Ichigo's Enigma
by PInsomn
Summary: Detective Kurosaki has been working in law enforcement for nearly six years. Months ago, he lost his partner and since then he's been buried beneath stacks of paper. When Chief Yamamoto gives Ichigo a new partner, it turns out that the blue eyed man is actually a beast in human flesh. Can they work together and track down a serial killer, or will Ichigo be the one to lose?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters and this plot is solely made up. Warning for gore, blood, boy/boy relationship(s). Those of you who cannot handle a lot of waiting should turn back now. I plan on taking my time with this fanfic, that means character development is a must and chapter updates may come slowly. Please be patient.

-P.

* * *

_It was dark, and he was breathing heavily. Sweat beaded down his jaw and he tilted his head to wipe his chin on his arm, his eyes never leaving the man who turned slowly around. He recognized the man as his partner._

"_Kago?" He asked his voice filled with disbelief. _

_There was no way, no way in hell that the man he'd been tracking for nearly two months would turn out to be the person he trusted most. This was the man that'd killed all of those people? Beaten, strangled, mauled, burnt; his partner had done all that? How didn't he know this sooner, he was the closest to this man._

"_Not you Kago…" His chest felt like a forty pound weight had just been dropped on it. The adrenaline that coursed through his veins put a massive burden on him; he watched his hands shake around his issued .45 glock. _

"_Yes Ichigo, me." The man, his partner, Kago, said. Even as he said it an insane piano-like smile plastered itself across his face._

_Ichigo's stomach flipped again, he felt sick and the amount of sweat he was perspiring increased, especially when Kago, who he trusted most in the world, withdrew a gun from his jacket and aimed it calmly at him. He could feel the color draining from his face when Kago cocked his gun._

"_Don't do this Kago, please god don't do this." Ichigo's voice came out hoarse and his throat felt like sandpaper as he swallowed his disbelief. _

"_Naïve Ichigo, this has to happen, you've seen too much. You know too much. By the end of tonight, one of us won't be leaving this room." Kago's voice was venomous._

_Ichigo's shaky grip tightened around his gun, he'd just wound Kago and bring him in. Yea, wounding him was the way to go and once he recovered he could be tried and put to justice. Ichigo had found his resolve._

"_Put your gun down Kago, and put your hands behind your head." Ichigo said firmly stilling his shaky hold on his gun._

"_Sorry Ichigo, no can do." _

_A gun went off in the moment._

XXX

Ichigo sat straight up in bed woken by his own strained cry. His bed sheets were tangled around his waist and legs and his chest glistened with a light sheet of sweat. The orangette cupped his face with his hands massaging reality back into the tense muscles.

"Just a dream." He murmured into his palms. A small canine whine came from the foot of his bed.

"Come on up Tez." Ichigo patted the bed and listened to the small jingle of the dog's license and then felt the weight of the mattress shift a bit. Tez's muzzle poked Ichigo in the chest then drifted up to lick his cheek.

"Worried about me huh boy?" Ichigo whispered rubbing the dog behind its ears.

"I'm alright now, it was just a dream."

He looked over to his beds nightstand and read the blue digits on his clock.

_6:23 am huh? Guess I should get up and go to work._

Ichigo dragged his feet to the side of his queen size bed and shuffled out from within his warm sheets. His feet planted on the cold dark-wood floor he stood and stretched, wearing nothing but his silver chain necklace.

With Tez bumping into his legs Ichigo made his way down the hall and into his bathroom, his hand fumbled for the light switch, finding it he flipped it on momentarily blinding himself. He squinted after rubbing the sleep away from his dark-ringed eyes. Ichigo looked at himself in the mirror rubbing the back of his neck and then smoothing his other hand over his stubble covered jaw.

"Good morning handsome." Ichigo muttered to himself, in truth he looked like shit. His eyes looked aged from the sleepless nights he's been having, his stubble had started to curl slightly; how many days has it been since he last shaved? He hadn't had a clue.

Reaching for his razor and shaving cream he squirted a generous amount into the palm of his hand before lathering his face with the white cream. Turning on the faucet he forgot all about his nudity, but he was alright with that he'd always slept nude. Returning his attention back to the matter at hand he pressed the razor against his upper jaw dragging it down to his chin in one swift motion.

Five minutes later he was leaning over the toilet taking a leak. One shake, two shakes, done. He roamed back into his bedroom gathering a fresh pair of clothes; tattered dark jeans, socks, a clean pair of boxer-briefs and a grey t-shirt. He pressed the grey t-shirt to his nose smelling it for some sort of sign that it wasn't washed.

He shrugged his shoulder with a kind of 'Eh' attitude. It smelled clean, and didn't appear to have any stains. Ichigo made his way back down the hall and into his bathroom shutting the door behind him so that Tez was left out in the hallway.

Ichigo turned on the shower, the water already hot and steaming up the bathroom in seconds. He turned and yanked a fresh towel from the closet shelf, setting his clothes on the marble-topped counter. He drifted his hand under the hot water testing it for his satisfaction. After he deemed it good enough he stepped between the glass doors and slid it shut behind him.

Hot water poured down his back and chest as he shifted under the showerhead. His toned muscles flexed with each movement, he grabbed the shampoo and soaped up his orange locks repeating the same motion with the conditioner.

**XXX**

After dressing himself he threw his towel over his head, drying the orange mass. Leaving the towel on top of his head he wiped his ears and headed out into his kitchen. He passed by his nicely furnished living room; it contained an over-stuffed black vinyl couch with two square-shaped chairs to match. His eyes drifted over the tinted glass coffee table that sat in the middle of all the unused furniture, covered with newspapers and old Chinese food cartons. His nose scrunched with disgust. Finally he looked at the overly-priced flat screen TV that hadn't been used as much as he hoped when buying the damn thing.

He sighed wiping his other ear as he continued towards his kitchen. Sunlight glared through the windows that lined the east and west side of the room, with Ichigo entering through the south. Along the north side of the kitchen stood a stainless steel fridge with a pull out bottom drawer and two doors that opened like wings at the top. Next to it was an electric black-glass-topped stove, both appliances were surrounded by dark marble top counters, to finish the room off there was a marble topped island that was dead center in the room. Like all the other rooms in his house, except his bathroom which was tile, the floor was a darker-polished wood.

He tossed the damp towel on the back of one of the island chairs before walking over to the fridge and pulling out a small package of bacon and two eggs. He set a frying pan on the right front burner and turned the dial to medium-high, he waited a couple minutes letting the pan heat. While he waited he press the button to the answering machine and listened to the twelve missed voicemails.

Six messages from his dad, reminding him about Karin and Yuzu's birthday this weekend.

"_We're all looking forward to seeing you Ichigo, we miss you. Bye."_

The remaining six were from his friends Orihime Inoue, Uryu Ishida, Sado 'Chad' Yasutora and Renji Abari; all were saying how excited they were for the twins' birthday this weekend and Orihime couldn't wait to see Ichigo.

He saw Uryu, Chad and Renji weekly since they all had joined the police force also. Uryu was the medical examiner that autopsied the victim's bodies and gave reports to the investigators assigned to the cases. Chad and Renji were both detectives along with Ichigo they all worked in the same station, but the three had different partners. Well, except Ichigo for the time being, his Chief has been telling him to look for a new partner.

"_It's not safe to work alone, you need backup." Chief Yamamoto patronized._

"_I'm doing just fine on my own."_

"_Ichigo, it's been almost two months. Let it go."_

"_Yea, yea."_

Ichigo pulled himself from his thoughts feeling his chest tighten, he shook his head and returned to the now heated pan. He cracked the eggs and pulled six pieces of bacon from the packaging, laying them evenly in the frying pan. He returned the left over raw-bacon to the fridge and grabbed a spatula from the drawer to the right of the stove.

Tez bumped against his leg reminding Ichigo that he had yet to feed him. He quickly placed a bowl of dog food out and refilled the small bowl of water for the German Sheppard.

Ichigo made quick work of his breakfast, quickly plating it and then scarfing it down when he looked at the clock on the wall. He grabbed his phone off the charger pocketing the device and then sliding on his expensive-looking watch, snapping the clasp shut he pulled the jacket off the coat rack and even quicker shoved his feet into his boots lacing them up.

Finally he dash through the hallway and grabbed his car keys from the dish that was placed on the wooden table. He turned the houses security on and shut the door, locking it with the house key. The older lady next door waved at him from her garden as he unlocked his imported black charger.

Ichigo could afford his life in semi-luxury, he was frugal for most of his college life and quickly got a job as an investigative detective at the department he's been working for nearly six years now. Ichigo earned quite a sum of money since he had the degree that he did, and halfway through his college experience he brought down a burglar and got the reward money; which was about fifty grand.

After paying off his college tuition he divided up the rest between Yuzu and Karin making sure they only had to keep a part-time job throughout college for food.

Ahh yes, life was good for Ichigo, but his job came with a price. Not a currency price, but a price far more valuable to a human being. Their sanity. For nearly six years Ichigo put the bad guys away, from rapists to serial killers to arsonists. But the last big case he worked on it had cost him his partner.

**XXX**

Ichigo parked in the same spot he had for the past four years from when he got his promotion from desk-jockey to on-the-scene detective. That promotion had earned him the respect he got today, everyone feared him; he was rarely approached to 'just chat' and if he was it was from his childhood friends or unfortunately some of the other detectives who he much less cared for.

He unbuckled his seat belt and swung the black door open, catching it just before it hit the car next to him. Ichigo grabbed his laptop case and jacket from the passenger seat and pocketed his keys before dragging himself from the car. He then stretched catching the gasps and awes from the women who worked within the building. Ignoring them he shut the car door and headed inside.

The building was about eight stories tall including the underground parking lot. He ignored the long line to the elevator and took the stairs, running up them two at a time. Without breaking a sweat he reached the seventh floor, after taking a minute to compose himself; brushing off his shirt and readjusting the hold on his laptop, he pushed through the door.

"Good morning Detective Kurosaki." The levels secretary greeted him, she was blonde with a nice bust and had tried to invite him over numerous times but mixing work with pleasure was a no-no.

Ichigo was fairly popular with women, but he hadn't dated anyone since college, even now he couldn't remember the girl's name. He made it a rule not to sleep with someone he worked with it'd complicate too many things and he didn't need complications in his life.

Not that all women he'd come across were complications, he just didn't have the time for them or even on the side. All he had time for was work and to take care of himself and occasionally see his family on the holidays, but sometimes he couldn't even do that.

He grunted a greeting and opened the glass door to the room filled with eight desks, seven of which were in use as of today. Ichigo sat in the desk farthest from the entrance with his back against the windowless wall. The desk in front of his was the only empty one, it used to belong to his deceased partner.

The remaining six desks paired in twos belonged to the rest of the detectives in the building; Renji, Chad, Ulquiorra Cifer, Nnoritra Gilga, Gin Ichimaru and Starrk Coyote. Renji partnered with Nnoitra, Chad partnered with Starrk and Ulquiorra paired with Gin. Leaving Ichigo partner-less.

It wasn't that bad that Ichigo was alone, some days, he preferred working solo now. He didn't have to worry about the other person getting in the way or fucking something up on the crime scene. He could just do the things that needed to be done, and do it his way, no arguments no over-thinking. On other days though, he could use the company, those days are the worst.

The days when Ichigo can't be fucked with anything, he needed to be kicked in the ass to even get out of the bed in the mornings. He'd go the full twenty-four hours without so much as drinking anything. Those days were the worst and they'd been coming more often, suffocating him slowly with his own self hate. One time it got really bad.

Renji and Chad had shown up at his door after a week of missed work, they'd complained about what he looked like. Hair stuck up in all directions, dirty unkempt clothing, big dark rings under his eyes from sleepless nights. Only a week after losing his partner and he'd become that bad.

Ichigo shook the thought from his mind and continued past the bodies already seated in their desks, not very many bodies at that. It was only Chad, Gin and from the desk lamp that was on Starrk as well; Starrk was probably sleeping on the couch in the break room. He was good at his job and was always there when needed already caught up in the investigation so Ichigo had no complaints. In fact he looked up to the older gentleman, he was skilled in shooting long range and close range. Not to mention he did his job very well and had given Ichigo a warm welcome when he'd first started.

Chad looked up from his computer his chocolate brown hair parting over one equally brown eye, he lifted his chin greeting the orangette silently. Ichigo returned the slight head nod as he passed the rest of the desks.

That's how the two of them communicated, silence. Chad could remain completely silent through a whole conversation and Ichigo would still know his feelings on the topic of discussion. He'd grown up with Chad, fighting alongside one another saving each other's asses time and time again.

"Good morning Berry-kun." The low baritone voice that he knew belonged to Gin greeted him.

He set his belongs on his desk chair before flipping the silver haired investigator off watching as the man feigned being physically hurt by holding his hand over his chest where his heart was - if the bastard even had a heart.

Ichigo worked a few cases with Gin before; they didn't work well together at all. Gin would tease him and then solve the case way before he had even gotten to the scene. He hated being upstaged but Gin knew just how to do it. And like Starrk, he could get the job done quickly.

He shuddered remembering the humiliation he suffered last year on his birthday. Shaking his head he pushed the memory to the back of his mind and pulled his laptop from the bag.

On his desk he had two separate piles of paperwork, the shit he'd gotten done and needed to send off and the shit he needed to get done. The pile of 'shit' he needed to get done was slightly less than the pile of 'shit' he had done. In truth Ichigo avoided sending off his things until the last minute, he didn't like talking to people or giving them time to send his reports back to be edited when he'd only had a few mistakes. That was their job to do, not Ichigo's.

That was another frustration that came with the job though, people not doing their jobs. All the secretaries would gawk at the officers, making small talk with the others and gossiping about the recent fashions or complimenting one another on their hair, sometimes Ichigo caught a bit of their conversation. He hadn't liked what he heard and made a mental note to start repeating song lyrics when he passed by so that he didn't catch anything.

He quickly flipped open his laptop so that he could get some work in before this morning's meeting. New cases to be assigned, hopefully he'd get assigned to something more difficult than last week's string of robberies and assaults. Not that he minded doing those small jobs, he just wanted something more challenging this time around, something to distract him.

That's what Ichigo needed right now, a distraction.

The door opened alerting the three already working men that more of their colleagues had finally shown up and not a minute too soon either, Ichigo read the time off his watch, it was nearly nine am.

He grabbed the finished reports from his 'done shit' pile and left the room and delivered them to the secretary telling her which file went to whom. After she wrote it down Ichigo went back to his desk and sat in his chair. Renji, Nnoritra and Ulquiorra had joined the earlier trio and were either opening their laptops, grabbing coffee, or putting together their copies at the printer.

"Morning Ichigo." Ulquiorra greeted with his usual emotionless voice.

"Morning Ulquiorra, how's the kidnapping case going?" Ichigo asked folding his arms across his chest as he reclined in his chair.

"Same as it has been, he said she said. This little girl has been missing for nearly twenty-four hours and the two parents have nothing to say but to blame each other, even Gin's irritated by the lack of information." He finished his statement by rubbing his temples, files in one hand.

"Oii Gin, can't solve this one 'ne?" Ichigo teased.

"Shaddup Carrot top." Ichigo's eye twitched at the nickname.

"Prick." Gin smiled widely at the comment knowing he'd won the small bicker, which pissed Ichigo off more. He turned back to the pale man standing awkwardly between them.

"You'll get a lead within the day, the wife's gonna crack with guilt before too long. I'd bet on it." Ichigo said freely waving his hand about.

"There's no evidence pertaining to the woman though."

"Well, if the couple's fighting no doubt the wife has a secret account. Check the bank statements on there no doubt in my mind that she hired someone to snatch the kid up and then pin it on the husband. Or just switch around the idea to make the husband the bad guy. Either way it's one of them." Ichigo watched the pale man's lips struggle from smiling.

"Gin said you'd say that, he's looking into it now actually." Ichigo frowned as the pale man made his way back to his desk. He looked over to the silver haired man who was smiling at him cheerfully. Again the orangette flipped him off.

Ichigo closed his eyes and sat up in his chair, his desk phone rang loudly startling him. He banged his knee underneath his desk earning a string on laughter around the room as he cursed under his breath. After a few more rings he lifted the receiver to his ear.

"Detective Kurosaki speaking."

"Ichigo! Sorry to call you at work, you weren't answering your cell phone or house phone." Yuzu's voice drifted into Ichigo's ear.

"Ahh sorry, I haven't been home much. Lots of cases have been piling up, you know how it is." Ichigo turned from the numerous glances drifting his way.

"Oh it's no big deal, Karin and I are wondering if you're still going to make it down this weekend?" He could practically see Yuzu crossing her fingers and holding her breath.

"Hmm, I think so. I've never missed you two's birthday before now have I?" He laughed scratching his neck. Ichigo felt the stares burning holes into the back of his head, everyone except Chad and Renji had yet to meet his younger sisters. Although they knew what the two of them looked like from the family picture sitting on Ichigo's desk. They'd also heard a few childhood stories about the two of them not from Ichigo though, Renji was the one with the big mouth.

"Ichigo? Are you busy?" Yuzu's voice pulled him from his thoughts. He'd completely missed whatever Yuzu had just said.

"Oh… sorry, what did you say?" Ichigo asked dodging the paper ball that was thrown at him, the pitcher left anonymous.

"I can't wait to see you, it's been a long time and my hair's pretty long now. I've been growing it out." Ichigo smiled at the thought of his matured little sister, man how long has it been? Since Christmas that's for sure, he was working a hard case just before that with Kago and they'd nearly missed the holiday because of it.

Another pang etched its way into Ichigo's mind. Why'd he have to remember that at a time like this?

"Same here Yuzu, I've got to go though. Meeting in about five minutes, I'll call you after work sound good?" He listened to her quick goodbye before setting his phone back on its holder.

"I can't wait to see you Oni-chan." Renji taunted from behind Ichigo.

"Stuff it fire crotch." Ichigo hissed grabbing his laptop and his meeting journal. The small comment earned him a hard punch on the shoulder and a round of laughter from all the others.

"It's time for the meeting." Chad stated joining the two of them.

**XXX**

Somehow Ichigo knew this day wasn't going to be his day when he first woke up. With the dream he had and the shitty cases he was being assigned at the moment nothing was going to turn the day.

It was going to be one of those days.

"There's no big case to work?" Ichigo asked resting his pen next to his opened journal, the page filled with black ink scribbles and notes.

"Unfortunately no Ichigo, there is no big chaos to fix this week." Kenpachi, his captain replied sarcastically.

Ichigo was tempted to flip the superior off had the Chief not sat in on today's meeting.

"So then I guess the meeting's over and I can go back to my desk. I could jump for joy right now." The room remained quiet until the older man starting laughing.

The Chief, Yamamoto, was like a second father to Ichigo, not necessarily treating him like a special brown-noser, but keeping Ichigo in his place and giving him small tips to make himself of better use when times were slow. Even when Kago died Yamamoto didn't sugar-coat things with Ichigo, Yamamoto had directed the investigation against Ichigo to better prove Ichigo innocent of the charges against him.

_Another depressing thought, way to go Ichigo._ He thought to himself watching Yamamoto stand from his seat.

"No you can't go back to your desk yet Ichigo." Yamamoto said clearing his voice and motioning for his assistant to come closer so he could give her secret instructions. At least that's what he always did in a meeting that he joined. Again Ichigo never questioned it and only took it as a blessing he didn't have to run those errands for Yamamoto, surely his assistant was overworked.

As the woman left the room a few eyes followed her, she was quite beautiful after all. Ichigo sighed waiting for her to return. The meeting wouldn't go on without her in it, nor would it go on if any of the detectives weren't in the room yet, that's how it always was.

The orangette drummed his fingers on the mahogany table impatiently. Silence again fell over the room threatening to strangle everyone in it like a snake strangled its prey. Finally the assistant reentered the room, but this time not alone.

Ichigo's jaw nearly dropped when the man stopped in front of the door letting it swing close again. The man stood six foot five, no he was closer to five foot six in Ichigo's mind. His height wasn't what had drawn Ichigo's attention, it was his hair - the color of the sky on a bright sunny day.

"This is Detective Grimmjow Jaggerjaquez, he's joining our department as of today and will be your new partner Ichigo." Ichigo stilled turning to the old man once again, just like earlier this morning he felt all eyes on him once again.

"This guy's a newb, Old man Yama. Send him back, I'd work faster alone." Ichigo stated clearly rising from his chair.

"Newb?" Everyone seemed to stiffened at the deep, gruff voice that growled in his direction.

"Sit down." Yamamoto instructed. The bearded man had one eye open and was staring daggers into Ichigo's soul, he quickly reclaimed his seat. "Grimmjow is far from being a newb, Ichigo. If you had looked through the stacks of paperwork on your desk more than once a week you'd have noticed there was a certain file with his Jacket in it."

Ichigo felt the words slap him hard across the face, his shoulders folded inward. This old man could make a man older than himself feel like he was a subspecies to an ant.

"I'll look at it after the meeting." Ichigo looked at his wrist watch it read 10:34a.m.

"Then you are dismissed, and Ichigo." Ichigo stopped from standing looking at Kenpachi. "Try to treat him kindly, he's rather useful and you're a dick."

Ichigo pursed his lips at the spiky haired man, if only old man Yama wasn't in the room or at least had his back turned. The other detectives muffled their laughs at Ichigo, even Ulquiorra was having trouble keeping his usual composure.

Oh yes, today was not his day.

**XXX**

Ichigo dumped the journal onto his desk much more carefully placing his laptop back in its normal spot. Dragging a hand down his face he looked at the blue haired beast across from him and then his gaze dropped to the second picture on his desk. The picture was of his ex-partner and two younger sisters. His arms around both Yuzu and Karin's neck, each girl held a peace sign and wore a million dollar smile.

Ichigo felt a small smile tug at the corner of his lips, and it soon turned to a frown when he looked over to see his new partner surrounded by everyone, everyone but him. Chad was smiling at the blunette obviously something funny was said or it was just an affect Grimmjow had, Renji actually patted the man on the back welcoming the stranger with open arms. Then there was Gin, Starrk, Nnoitra, even Ulquiorra was standing with a wide smile.

_Welcoming him with open arms indeed. _Ichigo thought with a frown as his eyes looked down at his desk again, he saw a manila folder on the stack of 'Shit to do'.

_Must be Grimmjow's Jacket that the old man talked about._

He grabbed the file slowly opening and scanning the contents. A jacket was an officer's, or detective's, records, it withheld their accomplishments, reprimands, cases investigated and solved. That's when Ichigo looked up from the file to the blunette and then back.

"Two hundred seventy-eight cases investigated, two hundred seventy-six cases solves." Ichigo muttered to himself. This guy really was a monster; that topped even Ichigo's record.

_But wait how long has he been on the fields? _

"Nearly five years…" Ichigo's eyebrows pulled together, the newb had been working for a couple months less than Ichigo and have so many more cases solved than him. Ichigo didn't know whether to feel anxious about his career's future or depressed over his career's past. He chose the latter, closing the file he sank in his seat, folded his arms, and sulked.

"It's not very often that I get to see you pout Ichigo." A light feminine voice whispered next to his ear. He caught orange from the corner of his eye and relaxed from being startled.

"Orihime, you shouldn't sneak up on someone who isn't paying attention. One day I might have PTSD and attack you or something." He joked turning to face the busty younger woman.

Orihime was a florist and usually came by to see Ichigo, bringing flowers for all the detectives and even Kenpachi. Her job really suited her, she was so sweet and still very beautiful that would never go away for her.

"You'd never hurt me Ichigo." She assured with a small smile and pat on Ichigo's shoulder.

She'd always been gentle to Ichigo, in high school they'd been best friends, still were. He remembered men gawking at her all the time, it'd infuriate him but back then he was pretty loose with his fists and would kick anyone's ass that would even look at her inappropriately. Like Karin and Yuzu, she was practically family and he protected family.

"What are you here for today Orihime?" Ichigo asked almost wishing he could take back the question when her face contorted with mixed emotions.

"I was told to come here to be questioned, a witness to something or something. Actually they told me to talk to you, 'Detective Kurosaki will fill you in, I'm aware that he's an old friend so you might be more comfortable speaking with him.'" She waved a small hand in front of her face still frowning.

"I haven't been tol—" Ichigo was interrupted by his desk phone ringing loudly making both him and Orihime flinch. He really needed to get a quieter phone, this made him feel like a paranoid schizophrenic.

He pulled the phone to his ear muttering his usual 'Detective Kurosaki speaking'. He hmmed and ahhed, opening his journal to write down the small facts, and froze when he heard the details.

_Homicide, female late 30's out walking her dog, someone found her dog a couple blocks away with its throat ripped out. _She more or less was in a bad condition herself, although being dead is probably the worst. _Not raped. Single blow to the head and she bled out slowly. _

He put the phone back on the receiver and looked towards Orihime slowly. She hadn't been the one to find her, had she?

"Well, I've been filled in." Ichigo rose from his chair, he towered over the five foot four woman as he led her away journal and pen in his other hand. She wore a white sundress and had a sunhat in hand, the dress showed off her curves.

Don't get him wrong, Ichigo loves curves on woman. It was more pleasing than rubbing a bone on more bone, besides curvy women were the best they looked and felt soft. He drifted his arm around her shoulder as they walked, it was more of a protective hold but you could misread it had you not known him for a long time.

"Let's go to the break room its private and I can get you something to drink while I get your statement." He spoke as they walked past the group of welcomers, although the group had now gone silent a heavy atmosphere replacing the happy one.

They all knew what was up. A murder. That's the only time they ever had witnesses in their office area, other than that they'd be called to the scene and they'd take the statements there. He got a small look from Chad silently asking if anything was wrong, Ichigo pursed his lips. Yes something was very wrong. Normally Orihime was the bouncy energetic girl. Always bringing up everyone's spirits, now she was just barely smiling anyone who knew her would know something was up.

Ichigo caught Grimmjow walking towards him and ushered Orihime into the room telling her to take a seat as he closed the door and turned back to the blunette.

"What do we have?" Grimmjow asked lowly.

"We don't have anything. I have a homicide witness to speak with, so if you'd excuse me." Ichigo was pulling open the door just when a big hand closed it shut again and turned him around forcefully.

"We have a case to work, _Partner._ I won't have your petty lone-wolf shit getting in the way of me doing my job correctly." Ichigo seemed to shrink beneath Grimmjow's gaze but swallowing his small intimidation of the man he twisted from the man's grip, with a little more effort than he thought he'd need.

"Listen, you and I we're not a thing. You do your shit, I'll do mine." He snapped. Ichigo's impression of this man was slowly fading to black as anger clouded his thoughts. He pushed away from the door making the larger man take a few steps back.

He obviously liked his space but didn't mind invading others. The thought alone could piss Ichigo off for months if he dwelled on it. Before he could do anything he turned back to the door and opened it, replacing his frown with a wide smile when Orihime's smile caught his attention.

Ichigo stepped into the small room ready to shut the door when Grimmjow pushed his way in. He found himself frowning again as he watched the blunette close the door and take his seat in the chair opposite of Orihime. His eyes looked like they could kill anyone with a look, but the rest of his face remained plain.

Ichigo couldn't read him at all, he settled into the seat on the couch beside Orihime and ran a hand through his hair again before opening his journal to a blank page and clicking his pen once.

"You want anything to drink Orihime?" Grimmjow asked Orihime.

"Water please." She replied softly with a small smile.

"Always water with you, you're like the flowers you grow." Ichigo chuckled.

"You two know each other?" Grimmjow questioned and before Ichigo could answer Orihime beamed at the blunette.

"Yes, Ichigo and I have known each other since High school." Orihime's smile returned completely the thoughts that plagued her smothered by a happier time. "Chad, I mean Detective Yasutora and Detective Abari went to high school with us too. I think you'll meet Uryu soon though, he's the medical examiner, right Ichigo?"

"Yea." Ichigo said feeling Grimmjow look at him before moving his gaze back to Orihime. He filled a paper cup with water and handed it to Orihime before taking his seat again.

"Well, that answers a bit. I heard a few stories about Detective Kurosaki here. Hot headed, loner, pessimistic, a true opportunist and hopelessly rude." Grimmjow smiled at Orihime his overly size canines peeking Ichigo's interest.

Turning to Orihime he watched as she smiled back at Grimmjow, she too welcoming him with open arms. Ichigo's irritation with the newbie returning in full, again the man had been welcomed without so much as a second glance.

Ichigo's welcoming here hadn't been quite so warm, he'd been teased and patronized about his hair. He was used to it though, everyone thought he dyed it. It wasn't his hair that had made his welcoming here shit. It was that he had no idea how to act around the lot of men. Especially when they irritated him, he'd been taught never to pussy-foot around a problem, because the problem would never go away unless there was something done about it. That mindset had gotten him into a bit of trouble from time to time, speaking out of place, pointing out a flaw in someone's thinking. Little things like that would set off something in some of the older detectives, whom were now retired.

"Sorry to ruin the small talk Orihime, would you answer a few questions? I realize what you saw might have been traumatic, please try your best to answer them." Ichigo spoke softly.

"I'll do my best." There was that smile again, half-hearted and distressed. Ichigo frowned again, sometimes his job really sucked.

"Explain what you saw then, please." Orihime nodded before going into an elaborate explanation about her morning, starting with her odd breakfast. Grimmjow's nose curled but Ichigo remained indifferent, writing down key points, oblivious to the abnormality of her diet. She then told him how she'd come upon the dog's body, she thought she heard something whimpering and went to investigate, although her actions were dangerous and reckless Ichigo ignored the instinct to scold her.

"There was so much blood Ichigo, the poor dog. I called the police not sure who else to call, I asked to talk to you but the woman at the desk said you were in a meeting and had other officers dispatched to my location. When I entered the building I overheard the secretaries gossiping about someone being found only blocks away from where I was? Are they alright? Was that their dog, the one that I found?" Ichigo stilled at the question fighting an inner battle to tell her the truth and to lie.

He could tell her they were fine, but when she found out in the news he'd have hell to pay. He frowned at her shaking his head.

"I can't really tell you the details Orihime, the case being as new as it is. Either way I still wouldn't be able to tell you, it being a case and all…" Ichigo's drifted off leaving Orihime to process his words.

"I see. Do you have any more questions?" Orihime asked softly after a small amount of time had passed.

"Uh, no not that I can think of. I can always ask you later though." Ichigo closed his journal sliding his eyes to the fire-eyed blunette.

_If looks could kill._

Grimmjow cocked his head to the side before saying, "I don't believe I caught your last name."

"Inoue." Orihime smiled at him softly before setting her cup down and standing. "I should get going, the shop opens at one."

"I'll see you out then." Ichigo stood with her stretching slightly.

"You're getting old Ichigo." Orihime teased.

"It comes with the job." Ichigo watched as she stopped in front of the door and turned emotions flickered over her face; pain and concern being the only ones Ichigo could make out.

Before he could ask what was wrong she swung the break room door open and started to walk again. A few brisk strides and he was at her side opening the offices' door for her.

Ichigo caught Nnoitra staring after her and threw a murderous glance his way. He'd been caught and would get an earful when Ichigo returned.

Ichigo shut the office door behind them and returned his attention to Orihime. Her heels clicked against the floor as they made their way to the elevator. He reached past her and pressed the down button watching the elevator light change from the first floor to the second and then stopping on the third floor.

"Grimmjow's your new partner then?" Orihime asked breaking the silence. Ichigo scratched his chin nodding.

"Yeah, Old man Yama introduced him during this morning's meeting."

"Are you okay with that?" Ichigo was surprised with the question. Was he okay with it? Hell no.

He shrugged turning towards his childhood friend. "He's good at what he does, from what I can tell."

"Ichigo…" Ichigo knew from her tone what she was about to say.

"No he's not Kago, I know this." His voice had risen a bit with irritation and the people that passed by stopped their conversations and quickened their paces. Orihime frowned touching his arm then changed the subject as the elevator arrived with a ding.

"Yuzu and Karin's birthday is this weekend. I'm so excited maybe Karin will let me dress her up for once." Ichigo laughed at that, a sound so sweet it turned heads.

"Karin wouldn't let you near her with anything sparkly or pink and you know it." Ichigo laughed even harder as the elevator doors closed and the thought of Karin in some big frilly ball gown crossed his mind.

**XXX**

Ichigo rubbed his jaw feeling stubble already forming. He'd been back and forth from his laptop to the printer and then back for about the third time since Grimmjow had left to go get the autopsy report, brushing off Ichigo's offer to go with him. Irritated by the way Grimmjow had taken over Ichigo let him go alone hoping the Elevator would break down and the blue haired ass would get stuck in it for hours.

Frustrated from the long wait Ichigo scattered the pile of undone papers on his desk he was ready to pull out his hair. Looking at the photo of his ex-partner on his desk he frowned again.

"Kago, what would you have done?" Ichigo finally stood from his desk stuffing the undone papers in his bag. He glanced at the watch on his wrist noticing it was nearly six pm, time to go home. How long was that bastard going to take?

World Ichigo had already finished delivering his reports to the secretary and was waiting for the elevator just when the door opened and out stepped Mr. Take-All-The-Time-In-The-World.

"Took your fucking time." Ichigo snapped drawing the secretary's attention.

"Ishida took his time with introductions, and then I researched a bit, calm down Carrot top." Ichigo's mouth tightened in a fine line at the nickname.

Ichigo readjusted the strap on his shoulder angrily, grinding his teeth together. Finally he pushed past the taller man blocking his way and into the elevator hitting the button marked 'B'.

"Where are you going?"

"Home."

"We have a case to work." Grimmjow argued.

"Well newbie, gather the research you so greatly appreciate taking your time getting. I'm going home." The elevator doors started closing Grimmjow held them open.

"Newbie?" Grimmjow smirked down at Ichigo making him feel rather small, again. Puffing his face Ichigo sized the blunette up putting on his best smile.

"A new person, naïve to the job, beginner, small fish." Ichigo elaborated making Grimmjow's smile only widen.

"Says the kid that has a 180 to 240 solved cases." Ichigo's anger flared at the taller man's words, "Also, it seems you're the small fish here."

"Hey guys…" Someone attempted to get between the two as they sized one another up.

Ichigo felt his face getting hot with anger watching his _Partner_ remaining completely composed while he was a hotheaded mess. Irritated with himself he grabbed Grimmjow by the collar and pulled his face down to his height.

"I may not be taller than you, or have as many solved cases as you. But I can kick your ass to Tokyo and back." Ichigo snarled.

"I'd like to see you try, Carrot top."

"Ichigo calm down." Chad warned Ichigo, him being the person who attempted to stop the two of them earlier. His tanned hand landed on Ichigo's shoulder calming him before he threw the first punch.

"Piss off." Ichigo muttered shaking the hand off. "Have fun with the newbie, I'm heading home."

"Have a good night, Carrot top." Ichigo silently flipped the man off as he left go of the elevator doors.

_One of those days indeed._ Ichigo thought to himself when he felt his shoulder slump as he leaned back against the cool metal that lined the inside of the elevator car.

*.*

"Unbelievable, he's the brat I get partnered with? I thought I was a detective not a babysitter."

"He's rough around the edges and going through a hard time right now." The tall darker-skinned man said almost apologetically. If he remembered correctly this was Chad, childhood friend of Ichigo as he remembered the busty girl's words from earlier.

"I have a feeling it's more than just a little rough around the edges." Grimmjow tightened his grip on the papers he'd gathered earlier pertaining to the case he was supposed to be working on with that Brat.

He waited for more to be said from the brunette, after about two minutes of silence he shook his head and headed back into the office to his desk. He flopped into his chair and resumed his earlier work.

"Go easy on 'im okay? He's had a hard life." The older man known as Starrk said through a yawn.

"Everyone who has a hard life would rather not be treated differently because of it." Grimmjow muttered over his shoulder.

Grimmjow rubbed his neck and searched through the stack of papers he'd accumulated. Reading the autopsy report first he made himself comfortable for the next three hours of reading and thinking.

_Hard life huh? How hard was hard._

**XXX**

Ichigo shoved his hands in his pockets making his way across the parking lot and into a small bar he frequented. When he said small, it was a little larger than what you'd usually think, it was a bar made for dancing that's for sure. Ichigo reached for the door handle and could already hear the blaring music which blared louder as the door was opened and he was enveloped into the noise.

Avoiding the crowd dancing he slinked on the edge of the room to the bar where he recognized an old friend of his pouring shots left and right. He stared after the gentleman who took the shots back to his group of friends.

Being noticed by his old friend his lip curved in a slight smile and he closed the space between him and the bar in a couple strides, dodging the oblivious dancing bodies and women that tried to get his attention. Taking his usual seat he slid onto the stool with a confident ease.

"Those kids are going to ruin their kidneys." Was the first thing spoken between the two. Ichigo watched the raven-blue haired man look up, a strip of silver tape ran along his left cheek and over his nose and on his cheek was there was the number sixty-nine tattooed. Shuuhei Hisagi, a very good and old friend of his.

"Can I get a whiskey?"

"And you say they're going to ruin their kidneys." His smooth voice soothed Ichigo's memories of the fighter that stood before him dressed in a black turtleneck sweater and dark blue jeans. "You haven't come here for awhile, Detective Kurosaki." A smirk slid over his features.

"Shuuhei, you know how I like you to call me Ichigo." Ichigo visibly pouted accepting the drink that was handed to him and then pulling a few bills from his wallet before slipping it back into his pocket.

"The job been keeping you busy Ichigo?" Shuuhei asked leaning on the counter.

"You could say that I'm married to the job, for better or for worse." Ichigo laughed together with his old friend then threw back the glass of whiskey.

"Had a bad day huh?"

"Got a new partner." Ichigo said setting the glass back down.

"Oh my, what are they like?" Shuuhei asked with interest.

"He's a giant Smurf. Yea, exactly like a smurf, but over sized. At least that's what his hair reminds me of. And everyone thinks my hair's wild. From what I can tell he's an asshole, and takes his sweet fucking time gathering information without even telling me what he's doing. Leave it to the newbie's." Shuuhei's laughter stopped him from continuing with his rant, he frowned inwardly twiddling his thumbs.

"Give him a chance to grow on ya'. You're a bit hard on the kid, I bet he'll do ya' some good." Shuuhei sauntered away to greet another customer quickly putting together their order.

Grow on him? Definitely not. He'd be gone before the week was over Ichigo was sure of it.

_Carrot top._ Ichigo clenched his teeth remembering the distasteful nickname the bastard had called him. He hadn't worked his ass off for the past six years to be nicknamed Carrot-fucking-top. Damn that silver haired, blue eyed fucker.

"Glare any harder at that empty glass and it might just melt." A woman slid into the seat next to him, her skirt any higher and Ichigo would see the color of her panties, if she even wore any. "You have a name handsome?"

"I prefer to remain anonymous." Ichigo waved at Shuuhei to come over, meanwhile the woman was on a mission, blatantly crossing her legs offering Ichigo a little peep show. His eyes remained on the empty glass in his hand, even when the woman touched his shoulder affectionately.

"I'm Harribel, it's a pleasure Mr. Anonymous." Ichigo turned towards the woman for the first time. Her blonde hair was pulled back and what Ichigo had thought was a shirt was actually a very short black dress. Her enormous chest was what caught Ichigo off guard, you didn't see a lot of women with chests this size. Orihime was the only other woman he knew of with this size.

"Miss Harribel, it's been a nice chat but I'll be taking my leave." Ichigo slid off the barstool withdrawing his wallet again and placing down two fives. "Shuuhei, would you kindly get this lady another drink of whatever that gave her to confidence to talk to me."

Ichigo turned and walked straight into what felt like a brick wall, it wasn't in fact it was a giant. At least that's what Ichigo thought of the beefy man.

"Miss Harribel was speaking with you." He said as if it were a threat. He looked over his shoulder not at the woman, he completely ignored the sly smile that had made its way to her face, no he looked at his old friend Shuuhei.

"Sorry about the chair Shuuhei, bill me okay?" Ichigo said just as the bulky man grabbed his shoulder. Ichigo grabbed the man's wrist wrenching it awkwardly before smacking the man's head into the bar stool watching the wooden legs it stood on crack beneath the force.

The chair was ruined, and it had been his favorite. Ichigo had the sudden urge to mourn over the loss of the inanimate object he'd grown attached to over the years.

Shuuhei shook his head at Ichigo struggling with a smile as two security guards peeled the unconscious man off the floor. Ichigo sauntered out of the bar aware of the many pairs of eyes that tracked him until he disappeared out the door and back into the night's air.

**XXX**

Ichigo shot up from bed woken from the sound of his cell phone screaming from his pants pocket. He pressed the phone to his ear forgetting all about caller ID.

"Hmm what?" He mumbled grumpily into the speaker.

"I found some very interesting facts about Victim Doe."

"Wait, Grimmjow? How the fuck did you get my number?" Ichigo rubbed his face sitting up from his bed with something of a mumbled groan as his bones strained awake.

"I'm your partner I have you number, as I was saying though… Actually it'd be better if you just came in." Grimmjow said, Ichigo could hear from the tone Grimmjow used that he had no other choice and that pissed him off. He pulled the phone away from his ear and checked the time; 2:42 am.

"I'm not coming in right now!" Ichigo's voice raised.

"Suit yourself." And then the line went dead.

Ichigo pulled into the department's underground garage in record time, he pocketed his keys after locking the car and headed straight for the entrance. He didn't even bother with the stairs it was nearly three am and he was tired, he pressed the button impatiently. Finally the doors opened to let him in, he pressed the '7' button and then pressed the 'close doors' button repeatedly trying to speed up the process while he still felt angry through his tiredness.

The door shut and Ichigo felt the car jolt into motion, he took note of himself in the elevator looking at his just tugged on shirt and very messy hair. Dark rings made themselves at home beneath his eyes, nothing he wasn't used to.

The elevator dinged and the doors parted for Ichigo who pushed himself out just before they closed on him. He drudged through the office doors noticing more than one desk light still on, the bastard who woke him up nowhere to be seen. He put one foot in front of the other until he reached his desk and slumped into it tiredly, waiting for his _Partner_ to come back.

*.*

"He fell asleep did he? That doesn't happen often." A voice startled the blunette from where he stood looking down at the peacefully sleeping orangette.

"I wouldn't want to fall asleep in my work place, too many people that'd fuck with me." Grimmjow laughed softly keeping his voice low. From the looks of the rings under Ichigo's eyes it looked like he rarely got sleep. He set the stack of papers on the only clear spot of his desk.

_First day on the job and you're already working harder than the guy who's worked here for almost six years. _Grimmjow could laugh at himself. He watched the silver haired man, Gin, pull his seat up next to his side. Grimmjow almost thought the man was going to join him with his research but instead the man fixed his eyes on Ichigo who groaned in his sleep and folded his arms over his chest.

"He really is a kid." Grimmjow thought aloud.

"He's no kid. That man's been through hell and back. Makes me glad I never made a serious enemy of him." For the first time since meeting Gin he opened his eyes revealing the iciest blue Grimmjow had ever set his eyes on.

"Everyone's been dropping hints to Ichigo's past, what's that about? I know it's not been accidental, there's a message I'm not getting so fill me in if you don't mind." Grimmjow's voice came out harsher than what he'd wanted it to be but didn't correct it, he really needed to know what 'hell' this boy had seen and why he should be careful around him.

Gin exhaled loudly turning towards him, his face heavy with sorrow. The only other emotion he'd seen on Gin's face since meeting him that morning.

"Has the thought crossed your mind as to what happened to his last Partner? As you read in his Jacket, 180 solved cases out of 240 investigations the 80 cases that weren't finished were because of his old partner. Their leads went cold, and they became cold cases hence unsolved. Now not all 80 were because of Kago, the ex partner, Ichigo's been trying since his death taking on the hardest cases over working himself to put himself at ease. Chad thinks it's from guilt that he punishes himself by over-working himself." Grimmjow processed the information he'd had to reassess the way he thought of his _Partner. _ But one single question pegged him.

Grimmjow's primal instincts told him it was dangerous territory he was treading in now. He normally backed off when his gut told him to, but he needed to know, he didn't know why, he just did. "You said this Kago person was dead, how did he die?"

"I shot him." Grimmjow slowly turned towards the body the sleepy voice had spoken from, his eyes transfixed on the fierce brown orbs that closed and opened again betraying the owner.

* * *

Thanks for reading. Tell me what you thought.


	2. Chapter 2

Renji stared down at the mass of orange lying on the bench muscles straining to max out on bench pressing. He didn't know whether to push the bar down onto the idiot's face or walk away leaving him to fend for himself, either way worked the fool below him needed to get the oxygen taken from his lungs. Maybe if he was lucky the idiot would drop it on his head, knock some sense into himself.

"You did what?!" Renji's voice rose with every word. "You said, "I shot him." Like it was no big deal?! Ichigo you fucking idiot!"

The room was dead silent, they weren't the only two in the weight room at this time but no one was going to try to talk and miss Ichigo getting chastised by Renji. This wasn't the first time Renji had been put in this situation, and definitely not the last with Ichigo.

Ichigo frowned, a vein pulsing from his forehead as Renji nagged him into oblivion. Renji was right though, he was a fucking idiot. As soon as the words were out of his mouth that morning Ichigo was out of the room leaving Grimmjow and even Gin staring after him wide-eyed.

It almost made him laugh how wide Gin's eyes were, they took up his entire face. Even now he was suppressing the thought, he couldn't laugh unless he wanted the bar above him to drop directly on his chest. He wouldn't be laughing then; he'd be trying to breathe if he hadn't shattered his ribcage.

"Are you even listening to me?" Renji's voice cracked slightly as he continued into a new tirade of complaints.

"What would you have had me done? Spill my sob story about how my fucking partner, the person you should trust with your life on the job, betrayed me?" Ichigo said it so calmly Renji shut up instantly. Ichigo avoided looking at Renji's eyes; he'd see what he'd always seen when Kago was brought up in a conversation. Pity.

Ichigo hated pity, he hated being looked down on. Like he was something fragile it would break by a simple conversation. He refused to have that humiliating memory burned into his mind, always there and never going away.

He found a new strength pumping the one hundred sixty pounds on the bar above him twice more before his arms shook from the strain. He made it about halfway up again before his elbows locked and more sweat formed on his brow.

Oblivious to Ichigo's current distress Renji started up again, choosing his words as if they were his last.

"You could have just said to drop it, idiot." Renji's voice was lower now, as if he was in a high avalanche zone and if he spoke louder than a whisper they'd both get buried beneath six feet of snow. The redhead had been pacing before and holding his chin. Now he stopped and was rubbing his temples, he could feel the headache building quickly.

"Renji." Ichigo ground out growing more distressed.

"There were more ways than making you look like a demon in Grimmjow's eyes, ya'know." Renji said as if he'd just solved the unsolvable. Not even a sideways glance at Ichigo, he continued pacing.

"Renji..." Ichigo tried again. The bar seemed to weigh a thousand more pounds and was threatening to drop dead center on the orangette's chest. His arms buckled and he could feel his back arching.

"He's never going to trust you now, and like you said 'your partner is someone you should trust with your life on the job'." Renji stopped pacing again imitating Ichigo's tone from earlier.

"Would you shut your mouth and help me with this god damn bar before it kills me and you don't have anyone to bitch at?!" Renji's full attention was on Ichigo now and he seemed to be weighing the choices before grabbing the bar and lifting it to settle on the rings.

Ichigo sat up his arms feeling like noodles as he toweled off his chest, face and neck. He looked at the clock on the wall it telling him that it was nearly ten am. He'd been working out for nearly seven hours was running on little to no sleep and his stomach tightened reminding him that he was very hungry.

"Wanna go get some breakfast?" Ichigo asked turning to Renji who stood on the opposite side of the bench clenching the bar with white knuckles.

If he was lucky Renji would snag on the changed conversation so he didn't have to listen to him chastise him in the car or anymore in here. He was well aware of the unheard whispers, chuckles and eyes that were directed at him.

"Don't change the subject, idiot." Renji had started up again, his attempt had failed and he had been called out on it.

Ichigo sighed throwing the towel over his shoulder and heading to the men's showers. Leaving the overly-tattooed man behind him.

"Breakfast sounds good, you buying?" Ichigo smiled as Renji caught up with him. Apparently his earlier failure wasn't so much of a failure, it had gotten him off the hook and he didn't care if he had to buy for the whole squad, as long as it got the nag off his back.

"Yea, why not."

"Ichigo, I think you should explain things to Grimmjow, he's not going to understand you if you keep on being the way you are." Renji said still not letting him off the hook completely. He sighed again as they entered the locker room.

The locker room was big enough for the whole building to fit in, if they were all tightly pressed against one another. The walls were lined with grey lockers some open some closed and locked, the floors were tiled and shined from the steam that had made the floor somewhat slick. Ichigo spotted his locker as he headed for the showers at the far end of the room, the lock still in place assuring him nothing was stolen while he was working out.

Ichigo grunted peeling off his shoes, socks, shorts and finally his boxers. He stood buck-ass naked just barely in the shower ignoring the looks from other officers in the locker room at the time. He flipped on the faucet not bothering to let it warm up before plunging his head underneath the steady stream.

A couple minutes passed, the water had warmed to a scolding hot that left Ichigo's skin red and relax, he was already rinsing out the conditioner from his hair. Ichigo pulled a towel from the rack just as he shut off the water he began toweling off and then tucking the towel around his waist as he walked back to where Renji was nose deep in his own locker, he too had showered and was just pulling on his boxers. Ichigo spun the dial on his locker, mentally reciting the combination he'd had for years.

_12. 34. 19. 4._

One other locker separated his and Renji's, the owner he didn't know. Could be Gin's, could be some lower-ranking officer, he didn't care. The latch clicked and he swung the grey metal open immediately going for the black duffle that held his clean change of clothes.

Ichigo pulled out a fresh pair of boxers first and dropped his towel as he shoved his legs through them, pulling them up to his waist with a snap of the elastic band letting him know that they were secure. He wasn't embarrassed of his body, or that he'd drawn a couple watchers in doing the everyday task, he was confident – sometimes overly confident. He turned back to his locker grabbing out the rest of his clothes; a navy polo shirt, black socks, and a dark blue pair of jeans. Quickly shaking out the folded jeans, he leaned over and slid both his legs into the form fitting piece of clothing.

"Where'd you want to go for breakfast?" Renji asked pulling his own shirt over his head.

"Dunno yet, we could call a delivery if you don't wanna leave the station." Ichigo grunted pulling on his boots and lacing them, leaving his jeans unbuttoned. "Jesus I'm getting old, back's killing me."

"It's from sleeping in your chair, idiot." Renji laughed slamming his locker shut. "I think Rukia was saying something about a new spa resort opening next month. West of Karakura."

"I'll just get Uryu to realign my spine. What're doctors for?" Ichigo said shrugging the idea away. "How's the wife anyway?"

"Cranky and full of cravings." Renji answered turning to face the orangette as he pulled on the navy polo.

"Yuzu about talked my ear off, she really wants to see the baby."

"I figured she would, Rukia said she was excited for their birthday this weekend. How old are the twin's anyway?" Renji asked the orangette as he stuffed his sweaty clothes into the duffle and shut his own locker, spinning the lock out of habit. He turned back with a guilty expression.

"Twenty-one… I think." Renji's laughter interrupted him.

"Old enough to be drinking then, gotta keep your eye on 'em. They might pick up some one night stand at a bar."

"Hey…" Ichigo glared at the redhead obvious irritation in his voice. Renji threw Ichigo's duffle at him changing the conversation again.

"Really though Ichigo, think about taking a break once in awhile. Can't keep going the way you are, you'll burn yourself out." Renji didn't have to clarify what he meant, Ichigo knew already from the many times he'd been told. Even Yamamoto had stopped him and said something last week.

"I plan on doing just that." He whispered low enough that only he would hear it.

Sighing he tossed the duffel over his shoulder holding it by the straps as he walked past Renji he grabbed Ichigo's shoulder and squeezed. Renji released his hold and headed for the exit of the locker room, leaving Ichigo to follow.

**XXX**

'_I shot him.'_

Grimmjow rubbed his hand over his face, the recent memory still repeating. What did Ichigo mean by that? What the hell was he supposed to do knowing that, leave, stay? Frankly the thought didn't really sit well with him, call it paranoia but the trust that was supposed to be between the two had been put on hold.

_Does he just shoot every partner he has? Is that some form of welcome greeting for every new partner. A test? _Was the little shit testing him? After five years of being a detective he had to be tested still? What was that shit. Grimmjow pushed away from his desk standing to stretch, a round of pops and cracks as his body adjusted from sitting for hours.

"I'm not sure a body should have so many cracks at your age Grimmjow." A soft monotone voice spoke from behind the blunette.

"Something about the job, ages the body faster than it should." Grimmjow joked eyes dropping a few inches to meet a pale man with eyes the color of emeralds. _Ulquiorra if I remember correctly…_

"I agree." Ulquiorra said flatly. Could you call that flat? Or was it just the way he said things? Grimmjow had to wonder.

Grimmjow's stomach growled loudly alerting the both of them of his hunger. He'd skipped lunch yesterday, missed dinner last night and it was nearly eleven and he hadn't eaten breakfast. He rubbed a hand over his abdomen frowning.

"Newbie's hungry huh?" Grimmjow looked past Ulquiorra's shoulder seeing Ichigo walking with two bags tucked under his arm and two coffee's one in each hand, Renji followed after him holding the door and carrying a few more food bags and a drink carrier with four more coffees in tow.

"Again with the newbie shit?" Grimmjow growled as the orangette walked by him, as if brushing dirt from his shirt. It irritated him to be thought of as dirt then again it didn't take much to irritate him.

"Help yourselves to the food." He sat a doggie bag on Grimmjow's desk along with the second coffee he held. "You can thank Renji." Ichigo added with a sour look before he took the small doggie bag and coffee to his desk. Grimmjow watched him as he pulled out a small wrapped sandwich the smell of sausage and biscuit emitted from the bag on his desk making his mouth over-salivate.

"Thank you Berry, I'll eat with gratitude to the gods then." Gin's singsong voice rang from his desk.

"Call me that one more time and I'll make sure you're eating through a tube. Only gratitude you'll have then is that you can still breathe without a machine." Grimmjow turning so that he could frown at this supposed to be Partner.

"And they expect me to work with an uncontrolled hothead like you. I feel a headache forming behind my left eye." Grimmjow said pinching the bridge of his nose as he took his seat.

"H-hothead?!" He rolled his eyes at Ichigo's raised tone.

"For sure. Did you know when you get angry your voice sounds like a whining child?"

"Whining child…" Grimmjow heard the irritation in Ichigo's voice.

_Now you've done it Grimmjow. _He thought to himself, he hadn't meant to piss the kid off things just came out of his mouth without being filtered through his brain beforehand. He watched as Ichigo stood from his seat nearly knocking it off balance in the process. Grimmjow waited feigning boredom as Ichigo invaded his space. Another irritation, he hated it when his space was entered, that's why he lived alone.

"Respect; learn the definition to it." Ichigo snarled his face mere inches away from Grimmjow's; he could smell the mint on Ichigo's breath.

"An act of giving particular attention also known as consideration, high or special regard of that person being deceased or still living." When Ichigo opened his mouth to say more Grimmjow continued, "Now that you're aware I know what respect is, _hypocrite; learn the definition to it._"

Grimmjow fought the urge to smile when he watched the shorter man's composure falter. Ichigo's lip twitched, he'd been shown up in front of people he'd worked with for years and was left speechless, that would drive Grimmjow wild. Even worse with absolutely no logical comeback that would make him feel better being voiced. Ichigo had been beat. Game. Set. Match. Grimmjow's chest practically swelled with pride.

The two remained where they were neither willing to look away or back down before the other, both held in place by their prides. Brown orbs challenged blue; the atmosphere seemed to pulse with electricity as the orangette tightened his jaw. Grimmjow straightened his shoulders making him even bigger, it was a defensive gesture one that was meant to intimidate. And it did, particularly when Grimmjow stood from his chair.

Ichigo felt undeveloped next to him, but that very well wasn't the case. He had been tall the majority of his life, slim body most of his teenage youth but when he'd joined the police academy he'd really grown into his build. Ichigo wasn't the first person to fill out that way though, just about everyone that went through the training went through the same transformation.

Some more than others. Grimmjow being one of those few 'some'. Everything about this blue haired beast was filled out. His face more sharp and edged than those who'd had thirty years of on the job experience tucked under their belts, his build could stop trains. Well maybe. The thought was a bit outrageous. No one could stand hundreds of tons of metal crashing into their body and survive without extreme injuries. No, not even Grimmjow fucking Jaggerjaquez.

He was a carnivorous beast in Ichigo's eyes, blood thirsty – a complete predator and Ichigo was the prey.

Thinking about how much Grimmjow outweighed Ichigo in more than one area just added fuel to his fire, he was pissed - far more pissed than he'd been in months. Before Ichigo's head blew off he stormed out of the room, all but tearing off Grimmjow's shoulder in the process.

He was not running, he was not retreating he was avoiding being reprimanded. He was momentarily forgiving Grimmjow for humiliating him. At least that's what he told himself.

"Ichigo where are you going?" The overly tattooed man, Renji as Grimmjow remembered, called out to the back of the very annoyed, no he was definitely pissed, belonging to Ichigo.

"To work on my god damn cases alone." Ichigo growled slamming the glass door that rattled at the force.

All Grimmjow could so was stand and gape at the spot on the door where Ichigo's silhouette had disappeared from sight. A low whistle echoed through the stressed atmosphere claiming Grimmjow's attention. His blazing eyes drifted heavily over the figures in the room coming to rest on a small girl with outrageous pink hair, now he'd seen it all.

"You sure ticked Ichi off mister." Her voice trailed off after that, and whatever she was saying he'd completely toned out. There was a loud 'Bastard' from the open room beyond the office door and he knew just who had yelled it. His fury rose and he contemplated going after the man to defend himself.

If one thing could piss Grimmjow Jaggerjaquez off in this world, it was hotheaded, petulant, capricious assholes like Ichigo _fucking_ Kurosaki. Grimmjow was seething with anger when he turned towards the pink haired girl giving her a full view of the raging war in his eyes.

"Is there something I can help you with?" He managed to hold back the anger in his voice but the misdirected venom in his tone slipped past.

"Nope, Kenny mentioned you and I came to size you up." The girl said it as if it were a threat than a statement. He was hallucinating; his anger had finally made him think that even a small girl was a threat. Christ.

"And? Did I pass the test everyone has been throwing at me?" His irritation by the tests that were being thrown at him was only growing. The academy had tedious tests all of which not even a small challenge.

"That's a secret." She laughed quietly before continuing, "What do you think of Ichi?"

The question caught him off guard, but it was easy enough to answer when the embers of his anger rekindled themselves.

"The way the kid holds himself is with little self-worth, that kid is a wreck anyone with eyes can see it. He still demands respect from others though, as if that will fill the crater in his self-esteem. It's comical, pitiful even." Grimmjow rubbed his chin. He meant every word of what he said. It was the truth and he'd be damned if he sugar-coated anything referring about the little fuck.

"Just as Kenny said, you're pretty interesting Grimmy." Her words were hastily said as she beamed a wide smile and skipped for the doors, hair bouncing with each hop.

Grimmjow's fists clenched and after several very deep, very long breaths they unclenched. But the uncivilized war in his eyes remained, growing with every minute that passed.

_Grimmy, newb, newbie. What's next?!_

It seemed the list of nickname's he'd received since arriving here was only going to grow.

**XXX**

He needed to calm down, he knew it, the last person who had tried to speak with him had received his misdirected wrath. She probably wouldn't ever come within greeting distance with him again. He'd left in such a haste he completely forgot about his lunch. Damn he was hungry.

Where was he to go anyway? He rarely left the office and if he did it was to go home or to the lower level weight room. He'd really fucked himself today, just what he needed - a complication. Heaving a sigh he stepped into the only place left to go.

The morgue.

Ichigo's anger died a little when he opened the door, he detected four people total in the room, two jotted down notes as they looked over center male's shoulder he was bent over a ghost white body on the metal table. They each wore greenish scrubs, protective eye goggles, gloves and a facial mask that covered from their chins to their noses. The regular scene Ichigo witnessed when visiting the place. Which he rarely did.

It smelled of death, the exact thing Ichigo resented most in this world. It seemed to revolve around the orangette though, striking when he was down and relentlessly adding to the weigh in his gut that he carried around. He shook his head violently, no he didn't need to be thinking about this right now. He was mad, not depressed.

He shut the door softly shuffling into the room as quietly as possible. The center man looked up briefly and looked back down. Raven-black hair jutted out from under the scrubs hat in all directions, the man pushed his glasses up his nose with the back of his hand and handed the scalpel to another person off to the side. He quickly shed his bloodied gloves and disposed of them before gracing Ichigo with his presence.

"Afternoon Uryu." He muttered shifting to lean against the wall, arms tucked across his chest.

"What brings you down here? I thought I sent the report with Detective Jaggerjaquez." As always Uryu didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point. Ichigo huffed a bit of anger returning from his earlier argument.

"You did. I just wanted my space." Ichigo admitted glancing at Uryu's blackened eyes and then to the floor where they remained. Uryu's eyes sucked him in, they were like a black hole that gave nothing away but took everything in.

Uryu rolled those eyes and motioned for Ichigo to follow him. He led Ichigo back to his office where the two sat together in silence.

The room was a decent size, about the size of the break room. A single desk sat pressed against the western wall, stacks of neatly organized papers placed around a desktop and a name plate reading 'Doc. Ishida Uryu.' The walls were a pale blue almost white, and the floor was tile, the same tile as the rest of the morgue. There were two windows in the room, one on the far side of the room behind Uryu's desk and another on the same wall as the door so Uryu could see his understudies at work.

"What happened?" It was more of a demand than a question but Ichigo knew Uryu meant well by asking.

"Just fought with the newbie." Ichigo mumbled not really wanting to get into it but he also knew Uryu wouldn't let the subject drop until he knew what went on.

"Hmm. Want to talk about it?" He'd just begun to simmer down.

"Not really." Ichigo mumbled again hoping that would be the end of it.

Thankfully it had been, Uryu chatted a bit about the earlier autopsy he had walked in on then they talked a bit about the twins' birthday tomorrow. It seemed everyone thought Ichigo would forget. He frowned at the thought knowing he'd sooner die than miss their birthday. Before too long Uryu was offering to give Ichigo a verbal autopsy report since he had yet to read the written one.

They left the small room and headed towards the corner of the morgue where Uryu pulled open a small square door and rolled out the heavy metal table with the body covered by a thin white sheet. He didn't know what he expected to see, but it definitely was not what he saw.

The woman was about five foot three, brown hair, green eyes, full lips and her skin color was probably more lively when she was well, alive. He stared down at the pale skin blemished only by the darkened bruises that never got the chance to heal. One thing stood out to Ichigo though. The bullet hole through the front of her skull, a burnt ring surrounding the small entry wound. Her attacker had been close enough to put the gun to her head and pull the trigger. Ichigo frown again the hair standing on the back of his neck.

"There was something else I found odd when I was checking her mouth." Uryu said hesitantly before turning and grabbing an evidence bag off another metal table. He accepted the bag from the raven-haired man and stared at the content.

"It's a cherry blossom leaf. Was her mouth open at the scene?" Ichigo asked his brows pulling together.

"It was closed. There's no evidence to prove it, no finger prints but… off the record, I think whoever murdered her put it there." Uryu's words sent a chill down his spine, his body suddenly felt heavy remembering the cherry blossom tree his neighbor had growing in her yard. The flowers ticked him off when he couldn't make out his walkway from his grass in autumn.

"Murderer feels guilty, places a symbol of peace for the soul?" Ichigo said out loud not expecting an answer, he was simply throwing his hypothesis out there. He chewed his lip, brows pulling together tightly. Ichigo examined the flower pedal again noting there were no bite marks.

"There was a cherry blossom tree close to the scene, some people believe sucking on the leaf will bring good luck. I guess not so much in her case." Uryu said watching Ichigo closely.

"Will you send this in for fingerprinting?" Ichigo requested handing the evidence bag back to Uryu and turning on his heel. Leaving Uryu standing next to her uncovered face, bag in hand with a bewildered look on his face.

Ichigo knew he didn't have to wait for an answer, Uryu would do as he asked without questioning him. And Uryu was pretty smart, Ichigo had something to hold on to for a lead – it was logical enough to have the petal looked at. If in fact a fingerprint turned up, Ichigo wanted to go through some past cases.

He headed for the information office, shuddering over the chance of seeing Szayel.

*.*

Hours later he returned to the office on the seventh floor holding two cardboard boxes full of old documents on cases that had gone cold while he was still investigating them. He ignored the curious eyes that followed him and strode to his desk where his uneaten sandwich and coffee remained as he left them. Dumping the boxes on his desk he tossed out the cold food and dug into the box. Ignoring his hunger again.

In under five minutes his semi-neatly arranged desk had become cluttered with papers, manila files and ink. Ichigo had a pen tucked behind his ear and an expression of a man on a mission. Yes, he was on a mission to find some sort of possible link. Hopefully within the week he could happily report to a grieving family that their family member's case had been solved and they could get the closure needed. He could almost smile, almost.

He checked his watch quickly noticing that it was nearly four pm, he had left the Morgue around one pm. It had taken him nearly three hours to sign all the paperwork needed to request all the cases, nobody liked the paperwork but it was protocol. He had no right enforcing the law when he himself didn't follow simple rules.

It didn't help that he ran into Szayelaporro in other terms, Szayel, Granz. The pink haired bastard got under his skin.

He moved the empty boxes to the edge of his desk and engrossed himself in his work again. Oblivious to the eyes that watched him curiously, he didn't even notice when a mug of coffee was set on his desk. Nor did he notice when another pair of eyes and hands had joined him with the work. He just kept doing what he did best, reading, searching, finding.

"Holy shit." He jumped hitting his knees under the desk, cursing under his breath he rubbed his knee with one hand and pulled his desk phone from the receiver and put it to his ear. He quickly dialed the number for the analysts who worked in the information department.

"Granz speaking." A chipper voice answered on the fourth ring.

Ichigo quickly rattled off his reluctant greeting and badge number.

"Ahh Detective Kurosaki we talk again, what can I help you with?" Szayel Granz asked. Ichigo remembered the first time they met; he'd nearly ripped out the pink haired bastard's throat when he asked if he could get a good look at Ichigo's physique.

Don't get him wrong he had nothing against homosexuals; it was just Szayelaporro Granz that made him uncomfortable. His mouth said one thing but in his eyes screamed that he secretly wanted to cut Ichigo open and study him from the inside out, call him paranoid but that's how Ichigo saw it.

"Could you give me information about Devrick Mckent?" Ichigo asked looking at the file in his hand.

"One moment." Ichigo listened to the soft clicks of a key board, he must be on speaker. Ichigo held his breath hoping to god the man wasn't in jail. He was his only lead.

"Ah, here we are. Devrick Mckent, prisoner 0092003, prosecuted and found guilty November 6th as of five years ago. His charges: Murder on the first degree, he'll be in jail until he's old and grey."

"Oh… alright, well thank you anyway." Ichigo muttered into the device feeling his earlier excitement fading with the feeling of disappointment to replace it.

"Not a problem Detective. Goodbye."

Ichigo placed the phone back on the receiver with a heavy sigh. He closed the file and tossed it back into the half filled box.

"Damn it." Ichigo murmured checking his watch again reading the digits; 6:31 pm. His stomach growled at him reminding him of his hunger again to be ignored. Ichigo rubbed his belly and for the first time looked across his desk, Grimmjow's desk was about as messy as his but it held an organized look, as if the man had piled the folders neatly he just didn't have enough room the only thing odd was that his desk light was off.

Ichigo looked back to his desk, nothing was organized. His laptop was buried beneath paper, manila folders were left wide open with pictures of victims and suspects paper clipped to the rims. All of the cases held a form of familiarity; he'd once worked these cases with Kago when they had first opened. He looked from the files to the picture frame on his desk. Kago smiled back at him, another familiarity.

"Going home Grimmjow?" Renji called out lifting Ichigo's eyes from the picture frame. He watched the blunette walk towards the doors, bag in hand.

"Yea, time to get home so I can eat and sleep." Grimmjow replied opening the door, "See ya."

The thought of going home sounded appealing but Ichigo wasn't about to leave right after Grimmjow, heaven forbid he run into the fucker in the parking garage and he lose his temper. He wasn't afraid of the man, intimidated but not afraid, he just didn't want to get reprimanded tomorrow on his day off. Especially since he had places he needed to be.

Ichigo smiled to himself excited for tomorrow, Yuzu would be cooking for sure, cake came next and then present opening… presents.

"Presents!" Ichigo all but screamed out loud. How had he forgotten to get presents? He checked his watch; only 6:45 if he hurried he could quickly buy them a gift and then wrap it tonight.

Ichigo grabbed the remaining files and stacked them in the empty box; he pulled the lid on it quickly before shuffling more of his everyday desk work into his bag. Finally getting his laptop into the bag he quickly zipped it and tossed the strap over his shoulder, he grabbed the box and dug in his drawer for his cell phone. Pocketing the device he made quick goodbyes, getting two disapproving looks from Renji and Chad before he left.

**XXX**

It was nearly seven before he found an open shop, a small perfume store. At least he could buy Yuzu something here. Locking his car he quickly made his way into the store, as he entered a few heads turned and stared.

The entire building was pink and glittery. He was out of his territory and everyone knew it. He belonged in a sports store or in a bar right now.

He'd be a little surprised to find someone like himself in a perfume store this late at night; they probably thought he had some sort of closeted fetish with women's perfume. He sighed inwardly heading for a sales clerk.

The man wore black dress shoes and pants with a peach dress top and a name tag reading 'Ryan'. His hair was a golden blonde and his blue eyes filled his face, which looked young. The man was definitely mid-twenties and very happy to see him. Ichigo braced himself for the next hour.

"Good evening Sir, can I help you with anything?" The man beamed a smile at Ichigo.

"Evening. My sister's birthday is tomorrow and I forgot to get her a gift. I don't really know what I'm doing here though, never shopped for perfume." Ichigo admitted as he awkwardly leaned from foot to foot. He wasn't one to fake that he knew what he was doing, it hurt his pride to ask for help but right now he needed a present and a good one.

The blonde beamed another smile at him before taking his arm and leading him to the opposite side of the store. "We have a nice selection of perfumes. Some just out in stores today, do you have a particular scent in mind?"

"Er… not really, I guess she likes peaches. I'm not sure she'd like to smell like them though." Ichigo laughed awkwardly letting the excited man lead him. He looked around catching a few envious glares who it was directed at Ichigo had no clue.

He wasn't too good at reading situations, but he was good at making them awkward. Apparently so was the sales clerk who had attached himself to Ichigo's side.

"We have…" The man's voice drifted off into rounding off a couple company brands that were extremely foreign to Ichigo. A few times Ichigo found himself almost falling asleep during the talk, and in the end buying three perfumes. All of which were decent smelling if used correctly. He had to admit, the man knew what he was doing, which Ichigo verbally pointed out Ryan had nearly blinded him with his proud smile.

Finally Ichigo was carrying the small bag to his car. As it turns out the man knew his stuff about football as well. They talked for another hour about the football game between Hollows and the Reapers, giving their opinions about number twenty-three's red flag, Ichigo thought it was bullshit and the amateur player had it coming. Get in an offense's way and you're going to end up flattened and back on the bench before a minute's up. Ryan shared the same opinion.

Ichigo played football in High School; he played different positions depending on the roughness of the other team. He could be used as a Quarterback on night and then a linemen the next. He loved the roughness of the game it would really get into his blood. He could recall himself growling at the other team, as if he were a savage dog in pads.

He pushed the old memory from his attention and placed the pink bag in his back seat. He had gotten a few presents for Yuzu, next he had to worry about what Karin would want. He hadn't a single idea what she'd like. Could get her a basketball? No she didn't really do sports other than soccer and he'd already gotten her a new ball last year.

His phone rang rattling him from his thoughts.

"Detec—Ichigo speaking." Ichigo corrected himself after remembering he wasn't at work.

"Where you at?" Ichigo pulled the phone away checking the caller I.D. - _Connected to Renji Abari_.

"Just leaving a shop. Forgot to get Yuzu and Karin's presents."

There was a moment of silence then the sound of Renji adjusting his phone against his ear. "Figured. What'd you get them?"

"Got Yuzu a few perfumes, I think she'll like them. And Karin's a mystery." Ichigo said with a frown.

"I hope you let someone else pick out the perfumes as for Karin, Rukia got her a new set of paint brushes. Figured since she's tryna get some painting experience under her belt we could help."

"Well there goes that idea." Ichigo replied opening the driver door to his car, he slid into the seat and turned on the engine. He pressed his head against the steering wheel before continuing, "Would she get upset if I just gave her some money? She can do whatever she wants with it… wait; would that be unfair to Yuzu?"

"I'm sure they'll be fine with whatever you give 'em. They're like you, take what you get and are grateful." Ichigo could picture the bragging smile on Renji's face as he spoke.

"I suppose."

"Have you eaten?" Ichigo thought back to the uneaten sandwich and coffee he'd thrown away earlier. He hadn't eaten breakfast, er well lunch, and he'd be late getting home for dinner. Oddly enough Ichigo couldn't remember eating anything since yesterday's breakfast. If he told Renji that he'd blow his fuse, Ichigo didn't feel like being lectured tonight.

He'd had enough arguing today.

"Yeah." He answered a moment too late.

"We'll be over in an hour, get home." There was no room for argument in the redhead's tone, not that he left Ichigo the option, he'd hung up right after he got the word 'home' out.

He looked at his phone for a moment, contemplating over calling his friend back and telling him he had plans, but that'd be another lie and the redhead would argue with him about it. He didn't have it in him to argue any more tonight.

He put the car in drive and set off for home.

**XXX**

Eight thirty-five Ichigo was pulling into his driveway, grabbing the multiple bags, including new grocery bags he'd picked up when he thought about how much food he didn't have in his house. He hurried up his steps, shoved his key in the lock and pushed inside greeted immediately by Tez's muzzle.

Ichigo shuffled into his kitchen, dropping the bags on the island and then quickly feeding Tez. He sprinted around his living room with a plastic bag, throwing away the empty Chinese cartons and very old newspapers. Deeming the room clean enough he headed to his bedroom, reappearing moments later tying his grey sweat pants and readjusting his white t-shirt.

He looked around his house, for the first time in a long time it was clean. He hadn't dusted or swept or even vacuumed but this was the cleanest his house had been in, well years. He never had company anymore, Renji was expecting a new addition to the family and from what he had last heard Chad had found himself a nice woman that kept him occupied in his free time.

He smothered the feeling of loneliness and headed for his kitchen where he managed to unpack the food he'd bought and put half of it away when there was a knock at his door. He checked through the peep-hole getting an eyeful of belly.

"Holy shit." Ichigo said as he opened the door.

"Hello to you too." Rukia said flatly.

"Hi Rukia, Renji, come in." Ichigo said scratching his neck and opening the door wider. Had he said something wrong? He watched as the very pregnant woman waddled into his home, quickly making her way to his kitchen.

"Don't mind her, it's the baby. S'been kicking all day." Renji said clapping Ichigo on the shoulder and steering him away from the now closed door.

"When is she do again?" Ichigo asked apprehensively.

"Next week." _No wonder she looks so huge. Please don't go into labor in my kitchen. Please, please, please. _

***.***

Renji stared at Ichigo's back watching him do the dishes. He slid his arm onto the back of his wife, Rukia's seat. They'd just finished a delicious meal, cooked by Ichigo, talking non-stop about the soon coming baby and Ichigo's younger sister's birthday tomorrow.

He'd known Ichigo ever since they were in High school; both of them had been inseparable since. It was a good thing they were so alike, otherwise they would've been parted when it came to careers, he was glad to work with the hothead orangette. They had a lot of good memories together. And no matter how angry the redhead got at him, he knew Ichigo would always have his back, and he would have his.

He picked up his half empty glass of tea taking a quick sip of it before setting it back down on the marble-top island.

"Renji told me you have a new partner." The redhead winced at his wife's words, he could see Ichigo's shoulders stiffen at the mention of Grimmjow; he stopped scrubbing the dish in his hand.

_Great…_

"So it seems." Ichigo replied coldly continuing to scrub the dish. Renji was not envious of that dish right now, he was sure if it was human it'd be screaming bloody murder.

"What's he like?" Rukia pried again.

"He's a six foot six, blue haired, beefed up smurf." The orangette ground out as he rinsed the plate and all but threw it in the dish holder. Renji winced again side-glancing Rukia a small warning, any more pressing and Ichigo would bust a nut, if he hadn't already, by the look on his face Renji had to wonder.

He pushed back his chair and rounded the island, Renji's hand landed in Ichigo's hair he began to ruffle the mass of hair while he spoke. "When was the last time you got a haircut?"

"S'been awhile I suppose." _Oh thank god._ Renji thought relaxing a bit now that he'd changed the conversation.

"You should have it cut at the spa resort, you did mention that to him didn't you Renji?" Rukia cut in again.

"Yea he mentioned it, it's a nice gesture but you and Renji should go instead. I've got work to do." Ichigo sounded almost convincing.

Both Rukia and Renji knew otherwise though, Ichigo dreaded showing up to work every day. For an understandable reason though, the burden that weighs on his shoulders… it's a lot. Not even Ichigo can handle the weight of it, this six foot four train-wreck waiting to happen was his best friend and he couldn't do a damn thing to help him out. There was no book on how to guide him through what he was going through, not even a support group he could go to, he could see a therapist but Ichigo wasn't the type to talk to someone with a degree about his problems.

'_I'll figure it out myself.'_ Renji remembered the words that echoed through his mind every time he talked to Ichigo about his problems. It hurt his heart to see Ichigo, the strong, fun-loving, independent man who could take on anything being so beaten down. It was worrisome.

It wasn't only him that was keeping an eye out, Ichigo's father, his coworkers, his sisters, Renji had even caught Old man Yamamoto watching Ichigo a bit too closely but not enough to grow attention. It was a wonder how Renji himself had even noticed.

He let his hand drop from Ichigo's hair letting the man return his attention back to the dishes in the sink. Renji turned eyes locking on Rukia who sat frowning at the two. She knew something was up; she'd always been overly perceptive.

"A smurf huh?" Renji's eye's pleading for her not to press any further, she brushed him off.

_Oh Jesus. _ Renji frowned at Rukia, prominent displeasure filling his expression.

"Yep, a smurf."

"Seems like you've got a grudge, you've only known him for a day… not even." Rukia badgered the orangette, Renji watched Ichigo's loosen shoulders instantly turn stressed. "Give him a chance, he might prove bett—"

"Rukia, shut up please. I get it, get off my back. I didn't sign up for a new partner, I did not request him. I have my own reasons, stay out of it." Ichigo said tersely dismissing the topic of conversation between the three. Renji tightened his lips knowing if he said anything to either of them their anger would turn on him.

Ichigo remained turned from Rukia and himself, Renji watched as the skilled hands clenched and unclenched obvious anger emitting from Ichigo's stance. The orangette rested the sponge on by the faucet before draining the sink then turned towards the couple, hair shadowing his eyes from sight making it impossible for Renji to read his intentions.

"I'm going to bed. Make yourselves comfortable here for the night, guest house in the back is open for you two." Shoulders slumped slightly he made his way down the hall to his bedroom.

"Tez." Renji heard Ichigo whistle and then watched the loyal dog pad down the hall after the orangette, the door clicked shut. Renji turned to his wife, she too watched Ichigo retire for the night.

"Did you have to press hon?"

"If I don't, who will." Rukia whispered pushing herself from the chair, "I don't really want to drive back tonight, do you mind us staying here?"

"Not at all." Renji replied helping her to her feet, he guided his wife out of the house and to the guest house.

**XXX**

Ichigo stumbled from his room, Tez knocking into his legs sort of guiding him as he went. It was only six in the morning. Ichigo's internal clock was being an ass again. He staggered into his kitchen unaware of the two other bodies sitting at his kitchen island drinking freshly brewed coffee. The small conversation stopped when the two caught sight of the half-asleep man.

"Good morning Ichigo." They said in unison.

Ichigo grunted his response trudging his way over to the coffee. Tez bumped into his leg again signaling he wanted food too.

"I'm getting it." He murmured staggering over to the food bowl, he slowly filled it snapping his fingers for Tez to sit before Ichigo set the bowl down. He snapped again signaling Tez could have at it once the bowl and his hand, were out of the way.

"You've trained him well. Loyal and obedient." Rukia voiced her thought as she watched him feed his canine companion.

"Mm…" Ichigo groaned stretching out his sleep-stiffened muscles. He opened his eyes completely seeing that the two were already changed and ready to go.

"S'bout time you got up, old shit." Renji said playfully.

"Shaddup."

"Someone's grumpy." Rukia poked. Ichigo wasn't a morning person that was certain and after last night, he wasn't too keen on being pleasant just yet.

He moved over to his house phone pressing the over-worn button for the machine to play the three missed messages. Another message prompting Ichigo of the twins' birthday today from his dad, one from Karin wishing his a safe trip. The third was complete static.

"Fuckin' telemarketers can't they at least fix their fuckin' technology." Ichigo glared at the message numbered three.

"Quit complaining and get ready, we have to leave if we're going to shop for Karin and still make it on time for their birthday." Rukia said waddling to the sink and rinsing out her coffee cup.

"Oh yea, forgot." Ichigo said quickly finishing his coffee and putting it in the sink. Quickly hurrying to his room.

He resurfaced from his room moments later wearing black jeans with the legs stuffed into his usual black boots, sporting a white tank-top and was tugging a grey skin-tight pull-over sweater over his head as he joined the couple standing at his door.

"Don't you have any other shoes than those, good grief I see those things on your feet all the time." Rukia complained.

"I'm proud of these boots, thank you." Ichigo muttered looking at his boots. He'd had these boots since graduating from the police academy, no way was he getting rid of them.

"Okay you two, we gotta go like now." Renji interfered before Rukia could say something else.

Ichigo motioned for Tez to stay before shutting the door and locking it behind him, he then helped Rukia down the stairs with Renji.

"It'd be better if we took one car instead of two, how about it Ichigo?" Ichigo nodded his compliance but insisted on taking his own car when he looked at the dark blue minivan. Renji helped Rukia into the back seat before rounding the car and getting into the passenger seat himself.

"I had a good idea last night, you could get Karin a studio painting stand." Rukia suggested as Ichigo started the engine and slowly backed out of his driveway.

"Seems like a good idea, better than anything I've come up with. I actually thought about getting her a stuffed bear." Ichigo admitted glancing at the rearview mirror.

"Hopeless." Rukia whispered rubbing her protruding stomach as they drove to the shops.

_Wonder if he knows who Isshin invited._

* * *

Hope this was decent and you all enjoyed. Please feel free to review. -P.


	3. Chapter 3

Ichigo had been all smiles during the ride until he pulled onto the street his father's house, the house he'd grown up in, and noticed the amount of cars already parked in front of it. Two of the cars were excusable; they belonged to Yuzu and Karin, he'd helped them pick them out. Yuzu's used black Ford F-250 and Karin's red Grand Cherokee Jeep. His father had a fit over the colors, saying they were too manly for his sweet daughters – that they needed something more feminine. But the other two cars, a familiar looking black Suburban and a jaw dropping silver '64 Shelby Cobra.

Ichigo felt the saliva pool in his mouth; he wanted to know just who had gotten their hands on this fine piece of machinery. Whoever they were he was bound to like them already, god damn that was a fine car. Maybe it was one of the twins' professors.

"Holy sh-sh-sugar." Ichigo corrected himself glancing to the back seat at Rukia, he wasn't really one to cuss in front of women – much less expecting women.

"That's a nice car." Renji spoke the words that ran through everyone's mind.

"That right there Renji, is what I want. A beautiful '64 Shelby Cobra, great condition, not a single scratch to flaw that rust-less exterior, there's only 1011 made in the world." Ichigo's voice was laced with a deep awe as he spoke. He put his Charger in park and was out the door faster than either Renji or Rukia could reply. He took seven or eight long strides before he was in front of the masterpiece, he bent down so he was eye level with it, not touching it.

It took everything in Ichigo's self restraint to hold himself back from touching the car before him. Not everyone could get by with such self control but Ichigo wouldn't dare putting a scratch on the silver paint. He even stopped breathing, scared that if he did the car would rust and rot away.

"You know, from the looks of it I'd say you're ready to marry the hunk of metal in front of you." He shot up fighting off a glare at Rukia.

"Hunk of metal?!" His hands flew up in the air before he continued, "This is worth more than your baby will cost Rukia. Chri-chris…" He had nothing, he was stuck and he'd be damned before he cussed in front of her. Sure he'd had his slips, but he'd apologized and most of the time he'd been pissed off his metaphorical cup overflowing with pure rage.

"Maybe we should go inside before Ichigo's head explodes, also we're putting on a show and the neighbors are just about to start recording." With Renji's words Ichigo's head twisted both directions noticing the few people poking their heads out their doors and peeping from their window blinds. He exhaled loudly heading reluctantly to his house.

He rapt on the door sliding out of reach from the knowing 'surprise' attack from Isshin. Just as the door swung open a flash of black flew past him, Ichigo instinctively dodged the next attack hoping his trained instincts didn't kick in and he hurt his father.

"ICHI-GOOOO!" Isshin cheered peeling himself off the ground again.

"Hi Dad." Ichigo muttered hoping his voice remained unchanged and drawn out. Apparently it had because Isshin's expression shifted to concerned and back to happy again, fighting an internal war – also making a distraction for Ichigo to shuffled the foursome into the house. He remembered the Cobra and took another glance before shutting the door close. "Who owns the silver '64 in the driveway?"

"Ichigo!" Ichigo's gaze dropped to his sisters as they dashed towards him, arms open and ready as they collided with him. His arms tightened around the two and he felt all his troubles soon fall away, the case, his guilt, last night. It was all gone, nothing but right now was more important.

"You two got old, both filled out that's for sure." Ichigo said as he pushed them back a step so he could look at them. Yuzu's hair was much longer since the last time he'd seen her, the same golden wheat color though and her brown eyes shined with happiness. She wore blue jean shorts and a peach t-shirt, her feet were bare and he'd noticed the pair of sandals at the front door, along with two sets of unfamiliar shoes next to them. Returning his attention back to the twin's he looked at Karin, her black hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, like Yuzu her hair was mid-back length, she wore black leggings with an oversized baggy red shirt.

_Typical twins. _Ichigo thought as a smile slide over his face again.

"You look older too Ichi-nee." Yuzu commented moving to Rukia and Renji for a brief hug. "Wow, Rukia you're glowing."

"Thank you Yuzu, how are you girls?" Rukia replied shaking off her shoes and waddling her way to the kitchen, Yuzu and Karin on her heels.

"You never answered my question Dad." Ichigo started again after the girls disappeared into the kitchen, "Whose car is it?"

"That would be mine." Ichigo bristled at the voice; he didn't even have to turn to know who it was. The smooth baritone had etched itself directly into Ichigo's memory, never to be gone. He could already see the night ending with a tangle of orange and blue.

"_Grimmjow_." Ichigo snarled turning one eighty on his heel. Like he envisioned the bright unruly hair was the first thing his eyes settled on, they drifted down to the shit-eating grin plastered upon Grimmjow's youngish features.

"Now Ichigo, be civil." Isshin started, Ichigo shot the older man an ice cold stare, unaffected Isshin was pushing him towards the kitchen. "We've got a surprise for you."

"Who the hell invited him?" Ichigo's voice was strained as he tried to quiet himself.

"I did, and you'll treat _our guest_ kindly and not fuss." Isshin's voice was stiff and parent-like, suddenly Ichigo felt like he was being scolded as a child. Heat rushed to his face, from anger or embarrassment he didn't know. He hated it. Hated Grimmjow being here. Hated that the bastard owned that wonderful car.

By the time he was pushed into the kitchen he was fuming. If it was possible steam would be shooting from every pore in his body. That was, until his eyes locked on a shorter male who sat at the table, back turned from anyone who entered, he turned and black orbs met brown.

_Owen._

Guilt sucked the anger out of him and suddenly he wanted the world to open up and swallow him whole. A smile cracked over the shorter brunette's face making Ichigo's chest tighten, his heart was hammering against his chest and his breathing wasn't coming easy. Shoulder slumped he looked away from the familiar eyes.

"Hey Ichigo, how've you been?" Owen said as he approached Ichigo arms open and bringing the orangette into a warm hug.

"I've been okay, how're you kid?" He stiffly hugged Owen back his mentally barriers coming up to protect himself.

"I'm great. Mom's been wondering when you'd be coming around again, says she's seen the flowers you leave on nee-san's grave every year, but she never sees you."

Ichigo's mouth went dry, his hands began to shake and he could feel the color draining from his face. Thankfully Isshin and Yuzu kindly took over just then, making small talk about the weather and the lunch; Yuzu asked Owen to help her cook as she dragged him away from Ichigo.

***.***

Grimmjow watched Ichigo clam up; he could see the cold sweat that had formed on the man's forehead. What would have caused him to react like this? Was it the kid?

_Was he some ex? Nah the brat's too young. _Grimmjow's thoughts went wild, from babysitting to saving from harm. They were all logical points, but it just didn't sit with Grimmjow's intuition at all. Ichigo didn't ache over old cases, he was a spitfire shit and could hold his own in any verbal or physical attack; at least from what Grimmjow had heard and observed.

The brat resembled someone Grimmjow had seen, not in person, maybe someone famous or something? On a magazine, in a pho – _Shit._

_Must be the kid brother of Ichigo's ex-partner. The one he shot. _

Looking at Ichigo, Grimmjow felt a little bit of sympathy for Ichigo, if Grimmjow was in his shoes, he'd never be able to look that kid in the eyes. Much less hug the kid. Even if the hug was stiff and obviously uncomfortable.

He wanted to reach out and ruffle the shit's hair. Do anything to change the dead look in his brown eyes. There wasn't a single sign of life in that six by four withered body of his. Not even his well-known temper was there.

_This kid's a wreck._

There was no form of pity for the kid, just empathy. God what was wrong with him, this was the kid that gave you a nickname – Smurf or something. Now it was like he had a bleeding heart for the kid. The thought disgusted him.

"Come on Carrot top, we can't let Yuzu cook on her birthday." Grimmjow muttered pushing Ichigo by the shoulder into the kitchen.

"C-carrot top?" _Ah there it is the temper. _

"Yep, that's yer name." Grimmjow said a little more challenging than he'd aimed for. It didn't matter, it worked. The life was back in those brown orbs.

"I'm going to kick your _ass._" The last word was hushed. Why Ichigo hushed it Grimmjow could only wonder.

"I'd like to see you try, but first shut up and let's cook." Grimmjow turned his attention to the young woman with the apron tied around her; the brunette boy was hovering over her shoulder as she cooked. "Yuzu was it?"

"Ah he remembered my name." She beamed a wide smile over her shoulder at him.

"I'm a detective it's my job to remember things." Grimmjow started, "Why don't you and… er sorry I didn't catch your name earlier."

"Owen." Out of the corner of his eye Ichigo winced and the dead look threatened to eat him alive again.

"Why don't you and Owen sit down with Mr. Kurosaki and let Ichigo and I cook."

"Uh well, really?" She looked at him a bit hesitant, probably assessing his skills.

"I'm a pretty decent cook. I don't burn anything, being a single guy I've picked up a few things from when my mom cooked for me."

He wasn't bragging, or being modest it was just the truth. He wasn't an excellent cook but he wasn't hopeless either, if he had directions he'd follow them with care. Besides, Ichigo could help with whatever he couldn't do and if they needed help, he'd ask.

Apparently Yuzu trusted him enough because she stepped away letting Grimmjow take over.

"What were you preparing?" He looked into the deep pot, taking in the scent of potatoes, carrots, celery, roasted meat and onions. "Beef stu?"

"How'd you know?"

"Intuition." He smiled at her excited expression. Unlike Ichigo Yuzu was somewhat civil and easy to talk to would be an understatement. He was always better with women than men, not that he was bad with men. He could just understand women better and know how to fix the problems they had.

"I understand. I had planned on the beef stu, a side salad, and biscuits – homemade of course." Her face contorted into slight confusion, "I haven't been able to decide on dessert though, since there's already cake I wanted to make something else, in case someone doesn't like the cake."

"A pie sounds nice. Do you have a recipe book here?"

"Right here." interrupted handing a book to him. It was old and worn, but with a slight flip through it was obviously hand-written, possibly family recipes?

"Dad that's Mom's what are you doing with it out?" Ichigo said interrupting Grimmjow's train of thought.

"It's okay, let's bring back the memories."

Grimmjow drifted back to his thoughts, flipping through the pages until he reached a dog-eared page with an apple pie recipe. _More than likely this was what the mother cooked a lot; well it can't hurt if I give it a go. Besides, it might give me some leeway with getting along with my supposed to be partner. _

"This." He held up the picture to Yuzu. "This would accent your homemade meal, reminds me of home."

"That'd be a great idea." She started, only to be stopped by Ichigo.

"Hell no."

Grimmjow looked over his shoulder finding the hot-head all but pressed up against him. The realization had Ichigo taking a few steps back.

"That's mom's recipe Yuzu, he can't make it." Grimmjow rolled his eyes, Ichigo sounded like a sulking toddler.

"I won't be able to make it as well as your Mother Ichigo, take a breather."

"Pick something else."

"No."

Ichigo glared at him, Grimmjow noticed the small jaw motion and set his shoulders back as he turned and faced the _toddler._

"I think it's a good idea, I haven't had an apple pie since your mom passed away. Give it a go Grimmjow."

"I'll try my hardest, like I said I'm no outstanding chef. I might add some sugar to Ichigo while I'm at it, he's too sour some times." Grimmjow chuckled watching Ichigo clench his fist.

How badly he knew the kid wanted to sock him in the jaw. From Grimmjow's observation, he's a family guy and wouldn't do it in front of his sisters or father. As long as one of them were in the room Grimmjow's jaw was safe.

Yuzu and Owen moved out of the way and Grimmjow took over. Pulling out the ingredients for each dish. Since the stu looked done Grimmjow put the lid on it and moved it to the back burner after heating it up.

"Ichigo, you'll cut the lettuce and get the things for the salad at around… four. That's how long it'll take for the stu to get done. So I've got about two and a half hours to get the biscuits and pie made. We'll start with the biscuits, get the flour please you know this kitchen better than I."

Ichigo muttered a cuss under his breath as he passed Grimmjow and headed for the far corner cabinet. Grimmjow smirked to himself then flipped through the cookbook finding a biscuits recipe. He listed off a few more ingredients before they both washed their hands and got into the 'dirty' work.

**XXX**

Ichigo peered into the oven for the hundredth time since they were put in. The delicious smells rolling into his nose and making his mouth water. He was beyond hungry now, his stomach was screaming at him for skipping breakfast.

"They aren't going to bake any faster if you keep looking at them Carrot top."

"Ha ha." He muttered another curse under his breath, had Karin and Yuzu not been sitting in the dining room he'd have punched Grimmjow's sorry ass our by now. Damn him and his family morals.

"Wanna taste this for me?" Grimmjow asked holding out a small spoonful of apple pie filling. Ichigo's lips pressed tightly together.

The thought of Grimmjow making his mother's pie using her pie recipe irked him. He hadn't seen an apple pie in years and all of a sudden he was making on with the very person who referred to him as Carrot-fucking-top. He needed to get a grip, earlier he'd nearly run out of the house screaming. The combination of both Grimmjow and Owen being here had nearly suffocated his conscious.

He took the spoon from Grimmjow ignoring the hard stare from him as his mouth closed around the spoon. An explosion, yes that's exactly what the sensation was. An explosion of familiarity struck him all the way down to his toes – it tasted exactly like his mothers. There was no way though, his mother had always added nutmeg.

Ichigo's eyes landed right on the small bottle of nutmeg. Damn it, Grimmjow was good and now Ichigo was going to have to shit out a compliment. He got a sour taste just as he swallowed the pie filling.

"You used nutmeg."

"Yea, tastes good right?" Grimmjow looked at him expectantly, waiting for his opinion no doubt. He frowned at the look, was this how Grimmjow looked at everyone who was trying his food or was this just how he looked at Ichigo? Both thoughts made Ichigo inexplicably uncomfortable.

"It's edible."

"That's all you could say Carrot top?" Grimmjow huffed pushing the filling off to the side and resuming things with the crust.

_Now you've offended the cook, if you're lucky he won't spit on your food. You'd deserve it too. Not giving the guy a break, letting him get the butt end of your anger even when it wasn't his fault. God you're awful Ichigo, get a fucking grip._

"Pull out the biscuits before they burn." Grimmjow tossed a set of oven mitts at Ichigo, smacking him in the face. He probably deserved to be smacked in the face.

_Depressing much?_ Ichigo thought pulling on the oven mitts and opening the oven door. He grabbed the cookie tray with the golden biscuits on it and set them on the two unused burners. Pulling off the mitts he turned the ovens temperature to 375, as per instructed by Grimmjow earlier.

"Salad comes next, you turned the oven to 375 right?" Grimmjow asked without even looking over his shoulder. Yep, Ichigo had offended him. But he could help feeling angry at the pestering, he wasn't dumb, just insensitive.

"Yes, your highness. Oven's set to 375 exactly, not a digit more not a digit less." Ichigo couldn't help it, he bowed before yanking the fridge door open.

"Tch."

Ichigo set the salad ingredients aside, grabbing a cutting board and cutting knife from the drawer beside the fridge. He watched Grimmjow eye the blade, it wasn't the first time someone had been cautious of him because of his past. So why did it hurt even a little that Grimmjow didn't trust him? Not that Ichigo had given him much of a reason to trust him. They'd both been reluctant on 'bonding', Ichigo was an ass and Grimmjow didn't care.

"I won't cut you." He snapped, grabbing the head of lettuce and ripping the plastic off of it.

"I believe it, not that you'd get close enough to even cut me." There was challenge in the undertone of Grimmjow's voice, obviously he was testing Ichigo and he'd nearly fallen for it. Even now he felt his anger simmering, he really needed to get a grip and fast.

Calming himself he started a smooth rhythm of cutting the lettuce, one two, one two, turn and again. He grabbed a bowl and set the lettuce aside in it, starting with the other vegetables. While Grimmjow started pouring the filling into the pie crust.

_One two, one two, turn…_

"When you get done with that carry it out back, I think that's where your dad wants us all to eat. The pie will be done by the time we're all finished eating. Yuzu's stu smells great." Grimmjow lifted the pot, carrying it with ease out the backdoor and setting it on the table.

When he returned Ichigo was grabbing the salad dressings and balancing two bowls in one arm – one the biscuits, the other the salad.

"Waiting tables for my first job, never lose the skill of balance." He kicked the door closed and rushed past Grimmjow who stood smiling like a fool.

_Interesting son you've got, Mrs. Kurosaki. _Grimmjow felt a little silly thinking such a thought but hell, no one else knew about it.

**XXX**

The first bite was the best, Grimmjow had never tasted something so flavorful. It made him happier that he'd accepted the invitation from Ichigo's father even more. Everyone was digging into the warm meal, he'd listened to a few childhood stories from Isshin, Mr. Kurosaki, about Ichigo and his younger siblings.

As it turned out Ichigo wasn't always so jaded, he was a fun teenager, always protecting his younger sisters from bullies and then coming home late covered in scratches – more than likely from a brawl. Sado, er Chad, had joined them too.

"Yuzu, can I pay you to come cook for me? Give up on your medical degree and come cook for me." Ichigo smiled shoving another spoonful of food into his mouth. He'd avoided the biscuits, knowing full well Grimmjow had made them. He was intimidated about the fact that Grimmjow might be a good cook, if he was, Ichigo would have to compliment him. No half-assed attempts this time either, so he'd just put it off until the pie. Maybe.

"Try the biscuits Ichigo, they're so flaky and tasty." Rukia said handing him the bowl of biscuits. _Shit._

He took one, peeling an edge off and dunking it in the soup. Maybe he could get away with nothing if he did so. He already knew the answer to that though.

"Holy shit." He said swallowing the bite. It was exactly what Rukia said, worst of all – it was good.

"That good huh?" Ichigo could see Grimmjow's pride already.

"Salty." Ichigo muttered grabbing his beer and taking a drink.

"Bull. You just refuse to give me a compliment, c'mon Carrot top, and it won't kill your ego." His remark encouraged the group of family and friends to laugh. Ichigo's face heated and he tried redirecting the conversation.

"So, uh, family. Huh, you got any Grimmjow?"

"Nope, how's my cooking?"

"No?"

"Mom passed away a couple years back, old age ya'know. Dad was never there, I'm an only child. And so were both of my parents and their parents are long since buried six feet under. How'd you like the biscuit?"

"Can't you just let it go? I'll compliment your stupid pie if I have to." Grimmjow wasn't letting up, he wanted a compliment no matter what. He know he'd get a compliment on the pie, but it wasn't good enough.

"Everyone else had something pleasant to say about the biscuits, c'mon Carrot top, I'd compliment your cooking even if you did burn it."

"Call me Carrot top one more time, and your delicious biscuits are going to be shoved down your throat." Okay, Ichigo's temper was getting out of hand now. Everyone's light conversations had stopped and they were watching them.

"_Delicious_ biscuits, huh?" Grimmjow was smiling now, Ichigo looked like he was struggling and he was embarrassed from the looks he was being given from across the table. He mentally patted himself on the back.

"I'll go get the pie, anyone want a beer?" Ichigo pushed himself up from his chair hastily, grabbing his empty food dish.

"Could you grab me one?" He stilled, looking at Owen again. He forced a small smile.

"You're twenty-one right? Can't be tossing out alcohol to minors." His voice struggled.

"Yea, same age as your sisters, jeez Ichigo it hasn't been that long. You and Kago would joke about my age all the time." His chest tightened.

"Yea, guess we did. I'll be righ…" His voice cracked, he cleared it, "back."

Ichigo ducked into the house quickly shutting the door before wiping his eyes. He was fucking cry, crying.

_Get your shit together damn it. God damn it. _"Fuck."

***.***

"You shouldn't have brought up Kago to Ichigo Owen. He's still kicking himself over the incident." Grimmjow watched Renji as he spoke. Owen's expression made Grimmjow uneasy, it was unreadable but then again Grimmjow didn't know the kid. He probably felt just as bad.

"I'm worried about him." The dark haired sister, Karin, spoke.

"Me too. We all are." Yuzu agreed, placing her hand on Owen's. They were a couple, that's for sure, did Ichigo know? If he didn't he was blind.

"I'll apologize to him, I just figured since he's …well you know, him. That he'd be coping better by now." Owen squeezed Yuzu's hand.

"You meant no harm, it's okay." Isshin said with a smile, "Ichigo's a tough kid. Was the same way when his mother died." His eyes softened.

"I grabbed a few extra beers, figured I'd better not come in and out of the house." Ichigo appeared from the backdoor, beer in hand.

A few beers was an understatement, he carried the whole twenty-four pack with him. Grimmjow's face twisted, if there wasn't so many people here then he'd be a little more concerned but right now everyone would get about one or two, cop instinct told him he'd better stay sober so he could make sure everyone gets home safe and no one tried to drive home drunk.

Ichigo's phone rang from his pocket, without checking the caller I.D he pressed the device to his ear.

"Kurosaki."

"There's been another homicide." He dropped the case, muttering a soft curse.

"Where, when, who?" He kept his question simple, making sure no one really knew what he was talking about. Apparently it hadn't worked, Grimmjow was already out of his seat and Chad and Renji were watching him like a hawk.

"Downtown in the shopping district, male early twenties, time of death is unknown. Cause of death is unknown as well. There was liquid in the Vic's mouth. His name wallet and nametag give us a name though." Ichigo's stomach flipped. Every instinct told him to hang up and wait but he pressed on, asking the name.

"Ryan Elswig." Uryu's voice travelled over the speaker making Ichigo's stomach flip- flop again.

"What's wrong Ichigo?" Grimmjow was a few steps from him.

"We'll be right there." Ichigo shut his phone, stuffing it back into his pocket oblivious to the coldness in his fingers. "Grimmjow and I have to go, work called and there's a domestic dispute a couple minutes from here. I'm sorry girls, Renji I'm leaving the car for you and Rukia. Feel free to stay at the house again. Please don't wreck my car."

"Ichigo, borrow one of my shirts." Isshin called out as the two disappeared into the house again.

**XXX**

The car ride to the scene wasn't what Ichigo had intended it to be, the car had power and it was beautiful on the interior as it was on the exterior, but his gut was wrenching so badly he could hardly pay attention and appreciate it. His seat beat was too tight on his chest and he suddenly felt cold even with the heater on. Was he getting sick? No, this is how he felt that night. He'd never bitten his nails before, it was a disgusting habit, but right now he needed something.

The kid from last night was dead; something didn't sit right with Ichigo knowing this. The kid seemed like a peace keeper, he'd bet his years paycheck that the kid avoided trouble like it was a plague. What could a kid do to get himself killed? Wrong place wrong time? Maybe… it was probable, perhaps a coincidence? Nah, he didn't believe in coincidences. There was no such thing as coincidence in his line of work.

He looked down at his hands, they were clenched and his knuckles were white, was his anxiety getting to him? Probably, he hadn't been good with crime scenes since …yeah, well there wasn't much he could do about it. Ichigo had to suck it up and that's exactly what he was going to do. He studied his hands again, they were shaking terribly maybe if Ichigo got lucky they'd fall off and he wouldn't have to get out of the car.

_Yeah right. _

"We're about ten minutes out, you should change your shirt." Grimmjow said switching lanes.

"Yea, do you need one I grabbed two. Dad's pretty big I think you'd be able to fit into the black one." Ichigo glanced at Grimmjow's shirt. Why were they all of a sudden getting along? It wasn't like either one of them had stopped with the nicknames, much less stopped biting off a piece of the other when something went wrong.

Grimmjow grunted. Was that supposed to be a yes or a no? Ichigo unbuckled turning in his seat he reached into the back and grabbed the two shirts from the back seat. He pulled off his floured shirt and pulled on his dad's white button up.

"Er, Grimmjow… was that a yes or a no?"

"No." Grimmjow said harshly. Ichigo ground his teeth together as his shaky hands fumbled with his buttons. Four tries later he hadn't gotten past the first button.

_Damn it._

"Can you not get your damn shirt on, Christ you're exactly like a toddler." Ichigo looked up from his buttoning job, Grimmjow was staring at him and then back at the road.

"I can't keep my fingers still. I'll just go out in this, let people see. S'not like I care." Ichigo bit back. There it was, Grimmjow had snarled and Ichigo had line right up for the bait. "Fucking." His finger slipped from the clasp and he just let it hang loose.

His mind was screaming one thing and his body was stubbornly doing another. Who could he lie to? He was a wreck right now, this wasn't anxiety or adrenaline. This was Ichigo losing his shit when he needed to pull himself together.

_Get a grip. Later you can break down, just please right now get a grip._

Grimmjow heaved a loud sigh and pulled over on the street they were traveling on. He turned to Ichigo and reached for the buttons on his opened shirt. Caught by surprise Ichigo flinched away managing to hit his head on the window, with a mild curse he gripped his head oblivious to the hard-at-work hands near his chest.

Grimmjow's knuckles brushed Ichigo's skin and a jolt of electricity ran up Ichigo's spine, muffling a shocked gasp he tensed again as the hands travelled efficiently down his abdomen buttoning the last of the shirt. Grimmjow leaned back in his seat and without a second glance he put the car back in drive and drove the last three miles to the scene in utter silence.

***.***

"Ryan Elswig. Twenty-three, orphan, not married and has one older sibling – Laina Elswig. She lives right here in Karakura town, about four streets up." Uryu reported to Ichigo as Grimmjow walked up beside him. At least they seemed to be getting along better today, maybe it's just a façade though. Who knows. He continued, "We haven't called her yet. Also, the substance in the victim's mouth seemed to be perfume."

"What's the cause of death? And out of curiosity what perfume?" Ichigo asked staring at the white cloth over the body.

"I don't know the brand, field officers are scouring the nearby garbage cans but today was trash day and our Vic's been dead since about eleven pm last night. Cause of death is still unknown, it could've been blunt force trauma to the head, drowning from the perfume, or poisoning from the toxins. " Uryu said pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Three nasty ways to die." Grimmjow muttered as he folded his arms across his chest. "What are your theories as to why this kid was here when he was killed?"

"He works at the shop around the corner." Ichigo answered for Uryu, Grimmjow side glanced at him fully expecting an answer as to why he knew such a thing.

"Birthday present for Yuzu. Had to talk to someone before I bought some older woman's perfume, or something she already had." Ichigo shrugged.

Grimmjow grunted his disapproval or was that suspicion? Was Grimmjow suspicious of Ichigo?

"Oh for fucks sake, I didn't kill him. Renji and Rukia can verify my whereabouts last night at eleven. God knows they invited themselves over." Ichigo wanted to punch Grimmjow, kick him, put him in a headlock, strangle him, something.

_Straddle him._ _Whoa, where the hell did that come from?_

Not only now was his life getting fucked up, his mind and priorities were getting fucked up too.

_Am I sexually frustrated? How long has it been since I had sex._

Now there was something to think about, Ichigo could remember the last time he'd had sex. He could hardly remember the last time he'd rubbed off. Sex wasn't on his mind a lot, with everything that had happened, maybe now his body was rebelling and throwing a tantrum to let off something. But Grimmjow, now that was a deep body betrayal. Ichigo's stomach flipped again.

He visibly shuddered, if he kept thinking about it he knew he was going to be sick. Oblivious to the mixed looks Ichigo was receiving from both Grimmjow and Uryu he found his eyes looking back to the white cloth.

_Who could be so fucked up that they'd murder an innocent man, the kid hadn't even lived yet. When he was twenty-three he was out partying, drinking and staying out of the force's way. Now he was twenty-five living with his dog, had no relationship – didn't have sex ever and his main struggles were catching shop lifters and reminding himself to eat. Man his life sucked. _

"Depressing…" He mumbled under his breath.

"What is?" Grimmjow asked turning to him.

"You heard that?" _How the hell did Grimmjow hear him, he hardly heard himself. There's your proof, Grimmjow's not human – he's a fucking animal, in every way._

"Good hearing." Grimmjow flashed a cocky grin, Ichigo wanted to slap it off his face immediately.

How the hell were they supposed to be partners? They didn't even get along half the time. The other half of the time they weren't fifty feet within each other's presence, even then Ichigo wanted to throw something heavy and hard at the blue tangles on top of his head.

Ichigo's brow pulled together in one straight line. Maybe he should just transfer departments. Sure it'd be a pain in the ass to start all over with the respect and getting to know people but then he could go on as a solo detective; wouldn't ever have to deal with anyone like Grimmjow. Well, if he was going to do it he'd do it after this case – something about it, Ichigo couldn't place what, rubbed his sixth sense, not in a good way… in a very bad, bad way.

"Carrot Top you gonna stop day dreamin' and get your ass in the car?" Ichigo snapped out of his thoughts noticing Uryu and Grimmjow were no longer in front of him. _Carrot Top._

"You'd better hope I don't kick dirt on your car." He'd never do such a thing, but Grimmjow didn't know that.

"Do it and I'll make you lick it off." Something in Grimmjow's tone told Ichigo he would do it too, just another reason to add to Ichigo's short temper. Yep, he was pissed again.

Fuming, he made his way to the damn beautiful car with a damn ugly owner. _Straddle him? Hah more like strangle._

**XXX**

It was nearly ten at night when Ichigo resurfaced from gathering information from the evidence department. He'd gathered Uryu's autopsy on his way back, but nothing took the edge off what Ichigo was feeling. Damn that pink haired bastard, groping him and again inviting Ichigo over so Szayel could 'study' his body.

He was exhausted, he couldn't remember the last time he'd been so tired. The day really wore him out, seeing Owen, Grimmjow somehow showing up at Dad's house, the twin's turning twenty-one. He had a lot to worry about starting now, a lot more to worry about.

The front desk's lights were off as he trudged up the stairs loaded with a heavy stack of papers. He didn't even want to think about how many more hours he'd be putting in the office tonight, it was his fucking day off and he was still working. He really needed a life.

His phone rang making his jump and some of the papers from the top of his stack fell to the floor. Ichigo shoved his hand in his pocket somehow managing to keep the stack of papers from falling and making an even bigger mess with his knee, he shoved the phone against his ear and nearly yelled into it.

"What?"

"Oh I'm sorry sunshine, were you taking a nap?" Shuuhei's voice travelled over the speaker, poking the embers of his anger.

"What do you need." It was more of a statement than a question, since whenever Shuuhei called him it was either to get together or because he needed Ichigo to do an errand for him. Tonight he couldn't do either.

"Jeez Ichigo~ can't be any nicer to a good friend?"

"Nope. Get to the point… please." Ichigo grunted picking up the papers and clearing the next flight of stairs, he'd never broken a sweat before but tonight it seemed he was drenched in it.

"Oh my god, are you having sex? Is that why you're breathing so hard?" Shuuhei screamed excitedly. "Who is he?"

"What makes you think I'm having sex with a guy? Which by the way, I'm not having sex with anyone. I'm carrying a heavy stack of papers, my ear's pressed against a small phone and I'm climbing steps like an old man." Ichigo snapped, pulling open the door.

Shuuhei giggled again, Ichigo could almost see the guy shifting from foot to foot and acting innocent. "Well, we all know you haven't gotten with a lady friend for quite some time. And I'm pretty sure you could swing my way if you wanted. You'd definitely be bottom though, for sure."

"Hah? Bottom?" Ichigo choked kicking the door to the office, "Never mind, just tell me what you need."

"No fun.~" Shuuhei pouted, "I'm sending doughnuts over tomorrow for the detectives, pick them up at ten okay? And Ichigo, share this time. Gin comes in here every night complaining about you not leaving one for him."

"The prick didn't deserve one." Ichigo's foot caught on the matt and down he went, his phone landed a few inches away from his head so Shuuhei could hear his loud curse when his head hit the floor. The papers of documented information scattered all over making the original organized mess, unorganized.

"Hey Ichigo you okay? Ichigo?" Ichigo heard Shuuhei repeating his name on the phone but his head and mostly his pride hurt, he just grabbed the phone cursed a few more times, said his goodbye and hung up.

"And down goes Carrot Top. The crowd is going wild." Grimmjow said from his desk where he watched Ichigo in mock humor as he picked up the papers off the floor.

"Go fuck yourself Grimmjow." Ichigo grumbled getting to his feet and carrying the papers to his desk. Yes his pride hurt the worst right now.

"Only if you bottom me." Ichigo straightened where he stood. Grimmjow had heard the last bit of his and Shuuhei's discussion. Wait, had Grimmjow just insinuated that he wanted Ichigo under him? As if, Ichigo wouldn't top Grimmjow much less bottom him. Ichigo flipped him off as he took his seat.

"Don't tempt me." Ichigo glared at Grimmjow, a smirk slid over Ichigo's face. He could do a little something to drive his partner off. Ichigo sucked in some air and forced a fake moan, hoping to god it made Grimmjow twice as uncomfortable as it made Ichigo.

It did.

Grimmjow's face turned bright red and his eyes filled his features. Ichigo burst out laughing. He laughed for so long his sides hurt. And by the time he caught his breath Grimmjow was pushing up from his chair and stalking his way in front of Ichigo. With a quick yank of Ichigo's shirt he was out of his chair, his laughter started again and through gasping for air he could see the anger swelling in Grimmjow's eyes – which just made him laugh harder. God his sides hurt.

"I'm gonna kick your ass, Carrot Top." Grimmjow threatened through gritted teeth. Ichigo's eyes were watering by now and all he could see is a fist before he was crashing back into the edge of his desk, his chair spun away crashing into the wall. Pain blossomed on Ichigo's back and cheek drawing the air from his lungs and making him collapse on the ground.

Ichigo managed to push himself up off the ground, sputtering for air.

"We're gonna settle this, Carrot Top." Ichigo didn't get a chance to reply before he was being dragged out of the room and into the elevator.

**XXX**

This wasn't how it was supposed to go, but hell it didn't matter both of them were too tired to move. By the time on the wall clock it was two am and they'd been wrestling for quite some time. Ichigo lay on his stomach, chest making his whole body frame move as he tried to catch his breath. Grimmjow sat against the wall heaving in just as many breaths, they were coated in a sheet of sweat – if it was theirs or the others they didn't know.

"Kid, can you move?" Grimmjow grunted moving his bare feet. They'd decided to take off their shoes so that no one got seriously injured. From the looks of it, no one did – they were just dead tired. Grimmjow could feel the fatigue setting in on his muscles, if he didn't move now he'd end up asleep on the floor, back against the wall.

"Can I move? Yes. Do I want to? Hell no." Ichigo mumbled, his back still hurt like hell and he could feel the bruise on his cheek.

Okay so maybe this wasn't the best way to settle things, they could've gone out on their day off and talked or something. Their day off would have been today – er yesterday, and that didn't blow over too kindly seeing how they were in this state now. Where had Grimmjow fucked up?

He got to his feet with the help of the wall, staring down at the orangette he exhaled and reached to pull the kid to his feet. Ichigo yelped in pain damn near making Grimmjow drop him.

"Jesus Christ, if you want me to drop you keep struggling." Grimmjow snapped tiredly, he looped Ichigo's arm around his neck and the two of them hobbled to the locker room.

"B-back, Asshole stop." Ichigo was holding on to Grimmjow like he was a pole and he was the dancer.

"The hell's wrong with your back?"

"Your punch knocked me into the desk, desk meets back. Do I have to spell it out? After the wrestling it's fed up with movement okay? Just leave me here and I'll crawl." Ichigo said through clenched teeth. He was obviously in more pain than he's letting on to be.

_You'd better kiss my ass by the time I'm done tonight. You're more work than what it's worth. _Grimmjow thought as he picked Ichigo up and threw him over his shoulder. Ichigo yelped again holding his back when his pelvis hit Grimmjow's shoulder blade.

"Ow fuck, ow fuck, ow fuck. Why do you walk like this, I don't know what hurts more, my back or my dick being ground into your shoulder." Ichigo's morals were gone; he no longer cared about what he said or how Grimmjow might react to it. He was in too much pain to give two shits.

Grimmjow rotated his shoulder making sure to grind into Ichigo's precious dick. If this was the thanks he was going to get he was going to make the ride very unpleasant. The thought hadn't occurred to his where Ichigo's dick was, he was more focused on getting the heavy as fuck weight off his exhausted shoulder, but now that he was aware of it he cringed every time he took a step. It hurts to have pressure on your dick, Grimmjow would know his last relationship ended with the woman he was with kicking him square in the family jewels.

"Only a bit longer Carrot Top, then you and your dick are getting off my shoulder."

"I didn't ask you to carry me, I told you I'd crawl." Ichigo bit out, he was eye level to Grimmjow's lower back and if he looked down he'd see Grimmjow's ass, which was nicely toned and looked good enough to grab.

_Oh great, here come those thoughts again. Please just let me get out of here tonight, I promise I'll do something about you at home. _ He was talking to his dick now, talk about his morals being gone. Ichigo rubbed his eyes they suddenly felt too heavy to keep open. What time was it anyway?

"Hey, what time is it?" Ichigo asked looking at the tiles on the floor.

"Two twenty-four."

"At night?" Ichigo winced, he'd forgotten all about Tez at home. He really needed to get home.

"No, in the afternoon." Grimmjow said sarcastically, lifting Ichigo from his shoulder somewhat carefully and sitting him on the bench.

"Asshole." Ichigo grumbled shifting his weight off his back, well trying; every position hurt but moving seemed to make it hurt the most. He was going to have to call Uryu to see if he can do something about his back.

Grimmjow stared down at Ichigo, his right cheek was bruised and swollen the dark rings under his eyes were there again and he seemed to be sweating still. Grimmjow bit the inside of his cheek and mentally face palmed. Had he not let his anger control him earlier Ichigo would be in better condition and they'd be finishing up the research for the case. But no, they were down here and Grimmjow was feeling guilty for letting the shithead get to him.

He pushed the strands of blue out of his face and looked around. There were showers, urinals and sinks. All of each line up close to one another. He looked longingly at the shower.

"Okay, shower time Carrot Top." Grimmjow said a bit too excitedly. Grimmjow grabbed the shorter man and pulled him towards the showers. "Warm water will loosen your back muscles and you can get it checked out later today. I'd say sorry, but you deserved it and I don't regret punching you."

"I'll manage to the showers, go on." Ichigo said making a shooing action with his hand. Grimmjow's arm tightened around Ichigo's waist dragging him the rest of the way to the shower. "Or not…"

"Shaddup, you need to shower and there's no way I'd let you crawl there. Man up, Carrot Top." Grimmjow said releasing Ichigo when he assured Ichigo could rest on the wall. He stripped off his shirt and moved for his belt – thank god he'd thought ahead and brought a change of clothes yesterday.

He waded his shirt and threw it to the opening of the showers, in his boxers already he looked at Ichigo who was undressing but very slowly.

_It wouldn't hurt to tease him, just a little. _ Grimmjow smirked moving to grab Ichigo's shirt and take over unbuttoning the piece of fabric, he watched Ichigo tense but there wasn't much he could do in his state, lucky him. Grimmjow left the piece of clothing on Ichigo and let his knuckles brush down the orangette's stomach following the small treasure trail until he reached the brim of his pants where he quickly unbuttoned and unzipped his fly. The pants were quite snug on Ichigo because they didn't even budge when Grimmjow let go of the sides and faced the shower heads.

Grimmjow twisted the knob indicating hot and let the cooler water warm before pulling off his briefs and stepping under the steaming water. The water felt great, the fatigue drifted from his muscles and replaced it with a smooth ache.

A second shower head turned on the opposite side of the room. Ichigo stood under it in his boxers that were plastered to his body by the water, Grimmjow's eyes drifted up Ichigo's body starting at his feet, his calves were nicely muscled, like the rest of him, the only two places that stood out on Ichigo was his ass which was made up of two mouth-watering mounds of muscle and Ichigo's back which held a strong mass of muscles – _That explains how he could hold his own against me._

Grimmjow's eyes strayed on Ichigo's back when he noticed the red and blue mark on Ichigo's back. Ichigo shifted under the water, resting against the wall on both his arms. The water spraying down his back.

Ichigo stiffened when he felt Grimmjow's presence directly behind him. Everything still hurt so he could move a lot, but the water was being useful and relieving some of the pain – but not enough for Ichigo to press against the wall to get more distance between himself and Grimmjow.

"Can I help you?" Ichigo questioned trying not to let him discomfort show, last thing he needed was to give Grimmjow more ammunition to use against him.

"I'm looking at your back. How hard did you hit it on your desk?" Grimmjow was kneeling stark-naked on one knee eye level of Ichigo's clothed ass. A part of him wanted to reach out and fondle Ichigo's ass, and another wanted to kick the other half's ass for thinking such a thing. Caught between conflicting thoughts he reached out and softly touched the bruising area.

Ichigo inhaled sharply and fought the instant reaction to turn and roundhouse kick Grimmjow's head into the tiles. If he did that, he'd pay the price.

"We're gonna have Uryu check this out. Get finished I'll grab the towels." Grimmjow said as he was leaving the showers, he quickly shut off the shower faucet he was using and grabbed a couple towels from the rack just outside the shower area. He wrapped the towel around his waist and carried the other back to where Ichigo stood.

"We're not going to do anything, you're going to go back to the office and I'm going to go home and sleep. Or you're going to go home and sleep too, which ever you decide." Ichigo grabbed the towel from Grimmjow's extended hand and toweled off.

"You need to get that checked out Dumbass."

"I'll put some ice on it, take some pain reliever and take a nice long nap." Ichigo said pushing up from the wall but still using it as a half-guide as he slowly managed his way to his locker. Twisting the combination he pulled it open and grabbed out his duffle.

"Continue on this road of self destruction and there won't be anyone along the road to tow you back, Carrot Top." Ichigo straightened; though it was painful he needed to get his point across.

"I don't remember doing this to myself, Asshole, I believe a certain blue haired Smurf punched me and sent me slamming into my desk – then dragging me down four levels and wrestling for a good four hours. You wanted things to be solved huh? Then leave me the hell alone." Ichigo was shouting now and the pain in his back had returned tenfold – this was his punishment for his temper, pain.

"Not a chance, you may not have done it to yourself. But you go days without eating, nights without sleeping – you work all the time and probably have no love life, you rarely get home and if you do you're too god damn tired to even rub one off, so more than likely you have no love life." Grimmjow's accuracy had Ichigo reeling for something to say or some flaw to point out on Grimmjow. He came up with nothing, absolutely nothing. Not a damn thing.

He was a good cook, he got on well with other people – excluding himself – Grimmjow was good at his job and efficient, he's never fucked up, never gotten a complaint.

_Never shot his ex-partner._

Ichigo let his towel dropped and peeled himself out of his boxers. He grabbed his spare clothes and dressed awkwardly but as quickly as he could. Grimmjow was still watching him, but he no longer cared, the earlier modesty was replaced with heavy guilt and simmering anger, Ichigo just wanted to go home.

Finally Grimmjow got dressed, much quicker than Ichigo and was soon following at the orangette as he was leaving.

"I'm going home as soon as I get my stuff from the office. Doughnuts are being delivered tomorrow so you won't have to pester me about my eating routine." Ichigo scowled at the ground, why did he feel the need to justify his life reasons to Grimmjow all of a sudden?

"I'll get your stuff, I'm going up there anyway. Just go wait near the car I'll drive you home." Ichigo started to protest but he remembered that he didn't drive to work today. Grimmjow drove him here from Dad's house.

"Okay."

**XXX**

_Clever Ichigo, way to end up in the cold night. You should've asked for the keys. But no now your dumbass is out in the cold, your hair is wet and you're going to catch pneumonia. _ Ichigo rubbed his hands together in front of his face, he didn't notice the passerby until after she was mere feet away.

She wore fishnet stockings, red heels, a short skirt and a size too matching silk shirt. Her makeup was the heaviest Ichigo had ever seen in his life and her bust was pushed up to her chin. She had blonde hair and big brown eyes, any other man would go weak kneed and fall before her, but not Ichigo he was staring between his hands and the departments doors.

"Hey Sugar, can I do anything for you tonight?" She started her business-like speech, offering her 'night deals' and saying that if he was nice she'd give him a discount.

"I uh…" Damn it where were his snappy comebacks tonight? To hell with his comebacks, where the hell was his speech tonight? Was his tongue tied? He was never very good in these situations, and the fact that she was climbing him like a pole didn't help his case.

Ichigo didn't like possessive women, they made him extremely uncomfortable. It was like having an overly attentive mother who fixed his hair in front of his prom date. That'd never happened to him, obviously, but even the thought made him uncomfortable. He shuddered and looked at the ground willing the blonde to move along so that he wouldn't have to arrest her tonight. It was cold, he was tired and he sure as hell didn't want to do anymore paperwork – he had enough uncompleted already.

"If you're a virgin we can just keep it vanilla Sugar, I know how men like it. What do you say?" The blonde pressed her mouth to his ear and he retreated further against the car. His back knocked into the car door limiting his movement, he tried several times to move away but every muscle in his lower back protested and locked.

"I say you remove yourself from my _Partner_ and get going before I arrest you." Grimmjow's rugged voice drifted over the blonde hooker's shoulder, Ichigo looked up from the woman noticing the darkened edges of Grimmjow's features.

_He looks mad._

What the hell did he have to be mad about? Shouldn't Ichigo be the one mad, he was being dry humped by a trashy-looking hooker, unable to move away properly because his back had locked completely and wasn't going to budge anytime soon.

When the woman remained pressed against Ichigo Grimmjow stepped closer and his eyes turned ice-cold, he was staring her down and she was dumb enough to lift her chin and challenge him further.

"I'm not doing anything illegal." She leaned more into Ichigo. His back painfully protested louder and he felt like he was about to pass out. Maybe he should go see a doctor tonight. _Like hell I'll ask Grimmjow to take me to the Hospital. _

_He'd probably say something like 'Rub some dirt in it.' Or 'Don't be a puss.' _Ichigo was not going to the hospital with Grimmjow, no way in hell.

"Soliciting your body to an off duty officer of the law, hmm I remember there being a law about prostitution. Would you like to try your chances lady? I know a hard-ass judge who would love to book you a couple months in jail. They do wonderful things to pretty ladies like you in there." Grimmjow threatened.

Could she end up in jail because of this? _Probably_. Why was Grimmjow so angry, did he have a bad experience with a hooker?_ Probably._ Was she going to leave soon? _Probably. Hopefully._

She leaned more onto Ichigo, possessively dragging her hand up his chest. Ichigo sucked in a sharp breath and finally found his misplaced words.

"Touch me anymore than you are and I'll be sure to press molestation charges against you. I'm cold, I'm tired, I'm in pain and you're annoying the piss out of me. Get lost or I'm going to let him put you in shiny little cuffs, it'll match those annoying fucking hoops dangling from your god damn ears." Ichigo had never cussed so many times in front of the opposite sex before, it went against all his morals but thank god he said what he did because she peeled herself away from him. He didn't miss the disgusted look on her face but he chose to ignore it anyway. He was too focused on the relieved pain she had been causing him.

She yelled some profane words about Ichigo and Grimmjow, flipping them both off and mentioning something about their dicks sizes. Ichigo shrugged, she was angry of course her pride had just been torn apart by two – make that one very attractive man. Ichigo looked like shit; he couldn't say he looked good at all.

"Get in the car." Grimmjow ordered rounding the car and opening the driver door angrily. _Yep, he's angry, but why?_

**XXX**

They sat in silence for a good two minutes before things took a turn for the worse. Grimmjow bit out insults left and right about Ichigo's intelligence, something about him being too oblivious to his surroundings and another thing about letting the probably-disease-ridden woman almost ride him hard right in the parking lot.

Ichigo defensively snapped back at him but after too long he was getting slower and slower at thinking, he was tired and the pain in his lower back had spread up his back and Grimmjow stops were too abrupt. They jammed him against his seat a few times before Ichigo shifted uncomfortably.

Grimmjow looked at Ichigo from the corner of his eye, noting the paleness of Ichigo's face compared to his bright orange hair. A fine line of sweat formed above his brow which was pulled together showing the pain etched in his face.

"We're going to the hospital." Grimmjow declared loudly as he switched lanes. He read a green street sign on the edge of the highway, 'Four miles until nearest hospital'.

_Good._

Judging by the lack of complaints from Ichigo he needed to get things checked out.

Grimmjow told himself that he wouldn't feel bad about hitting Ichigo, but now he did. He did a lot. The hothead could be an ass but he didn't deserve to struggle so badly with pain, at least he wasn't complaining – Grimmjow would know he was seriously hurt then because this kid took whatever was thrown at him and didn't say a word – Ichigo was a strong kid but not invincible.

He'd gotten so angry earlier at the sight of the trashy blonde pushing Ichigo against his car, Ichigo was in obvious pain but she didn't read the signs. Why Ichigo hadn't told her off sooner? Grimmjow had no clue – maybe the kid was looking for a nice lay for the night.

_No, not Ichigo, he was tired and in pain the kid just wanted to get home. He'll sure be pissed to find himself in the hospital when he's back to his usual self. Should just take him home and let him take care of himself. _Grimmjow shook his head, no way was he letting the shit go and not have whatever looked at because he was stubborn as a mule and independent. As much as it'll kill his pride Ichigo would have to man up and take one for… himself? Did that even work?

No it didn't. Grimmjow's mind was just looking for something to keep himself awake – his thoughts were rambling now. He checked the time on his watch – it was almost three thirty in the morning. He could kiss his hopes for his own bed for tonight gone, if Ichigo broke or fractured something Grimmjow would be at the hospital all night making a call to his family and probably notifying Renji incase he'd taken Ichigo up on his offer to bunk at his house for the night and was waiting up for him to get home.

Grimmjow looked back to Ichigo again, his breathing had evened out and his eyes were closed. He was sleeping. Grimmjow hoped he'd stay that way until after he'd gotten him checked into the hospital.

_Probably, maybe, hopefully._

* * *

Tell me what you thought of this chapter. -P.


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry for the late update everyone. This chapter's going to be a long one, the word count got up to 13k and I went back to revise but I absolutely didn't want to hold a scene until next chapter. I've written the scenes to the best of my skill, if you feel there's something wrong or skipped, even rushed feel free to leave a review. Or you can privately PM me.

Enjoy. -P

* * *

Ichigo stepped into the elevator at nine thirty am, it was Monday morning, the sun was shining and there was a slight chance of rain in the evening. The night had been long and Ichigo hadn't gotten but only a few hours of sleep. As angry as he could be over things, he just didn't have the energy and that would piss him off more – later. Ichigo stretched and leaned back against the metal wall, the back brace he had on poked his middle back telling him he's leaning too far back.

'_You'll have to wear this brace for at least a week . You threw your back out, when was the last time you went to see your chiropractor?' The grey haired doctor asked him._

'_It's been awhile I suppose. I'll be sure to see him more often. Thanks Doc.' _

Ichigo stood back up remembering the Doctors warnings about straining his back. He couldn't risk surgery with his job, he'd be out of duty for a month – Ichigo would go mad sitting in his house for a month not doing anything productive.

A leech of society, he'd always thought. He'd be damned if he ever became one. Hah.

The elevator dinged on the seventh floor and Ichigo stepped out, he was greeted by a couple officers passing through the hall and then greeted again by the floor's secretary. Today she wore her hair up in a ponytail; she wore a black dress suit. A white undershirt peaked from beneath the fabric showing off a bit of cleavage, intentional-eye-attracting cleavage, in which Ichigo found himself looking everywhere but at her from then on. As he was busy looking around he'd noticed a familiar brunette leaning against the counter with a purple box in front of him. He had been talking with the secretary until he turned and spotted Ichigo.

"Ichigo, I have a delivery for you." Owen said with a smile. Since when did he deliver doughnuts? Owen wore khaki shorts, a red polo shirt and sandals.

Ichigo composed himself, the memory of how he acted yesterday plastering itself to his conscious. Yesterday he hadn't been too welcoming to Owen, he was in shock. He wasn't aware Owen was going to be there and Ichigo hadn't seen Owen since Kago's funeral, even then Ichigo stood at the farthest end of the cemetery and watched from there; back then his guilt ruled over him – it sometimes still did.

Shaking his head, he tossed the thoughts from his mind and adjusted his shirt, the brace he was wearing rather snuggly, was bunching his shirt. Not that he much cared; it was just something to do. It wasn't easy being in front of Owen. It was damn hard.

Owen and Yuzu had been dating for nearly a year now, in about a month – give or take a week or two – they'd be celebrating their anniversary. When Ichigo had first heard about Owen and Yuzu, he'd done what every protective brother would do. He set the boundaries, he'd been quite clear about them, and then he gave Owen his blessing but with warning.

Other than the kid dating his younger sister, he had no problem with Owen. They, Ichigo, Kago and Owen had normally hung out. They'd had movie night at Ichigo's place every Saturday.

Before Ichigo shot and killed Kago. Blunt? No, that was just the truth. Ichigo delivered a fatal wound to his deceased partner, friend.

Ichigo forced a soft smile, trying to hide the pain from his features. He put on his poker face, the one he'd developed from the years as a detective. The one he'd developed from the agonizing pain and the relentless suffering. The mask.

"Shuuhei's delivery boy huh?" Owen's head cocked to the side, curiosity filling the black orbs that sucked Ichigo in. It felt like Ichigo was stuck in freezing oil.

"More of like the Doughnut shops delivery boy now." Owen said smiling, the smile always put Ichigo at ease, but nothing seemed to put him at ease now.

He'd hoped for so long that Owen would hit him, would curse him, would show some form of anger towards him. But there was nothing, there had never been anything other than pity in those black eyes. It tore Ichigo apart.

"Ah, sounds like breakfast to my ears." Ichigo kept his voice level, surprised by the stability and strength that he heard.

Owen handed a signing form over to Ichigo and Ichigo quickly scribbled his signature in the lines and handed the clip board back just as quickly. Receiving the pink box, he could see the small logos printed into the sides. His eyes remained on them until he listened to Owen's small goodbye, murmured his own in return and headed for the office doors, guilt bearing down on his now more than it ever had before.

Ichigo pulled open the glass doors, his eyes still locked onto the logo's as he made his way into the break room. First he'd get coffee. _That's in the break room. _Ichigo instructed his body to head in that direction. Second he would get started with his day; the usual routine – check emails, check up on any leads, depending on the information it would lead the rest of his routine. All Ichigo knew was that he needed coffee and a case that would distract him from the heaviness in his heart.

"Ichigo?" Ichigo stiffened at the voice close to his ear, he could feel the breath on his ear, the warmth on his neck and he became very aware of all the eyes on him. Starrk who was probably lying on the couch was leaning up on his elbow, Gin and Ulquiorra were at the coffee machine and Renji, Chad and Nnoitra were sitting at the table – they all rarely got together in such close proximity but it did happen, Ichigo just hated it had to be today of all days.

"Huh?" Ichigo stepped away from the person behind him, knowing it was Grimmjow. How long had Grimmjow been saying his name?

Dead silence. The conversations were stopped, Ichigo doubted anyone even breathed.

"You feeling okay?" Was that concern in Grimmjow's voice? _Hah. _ Hell no it wasn't. Grimmjow was probably just asking to be polite.

"I'm fine." Ichigo replied putting the doughnuts on the open counter and making his way to the coffee. He could feel the eye bearing into his back, he just didn't care. Ichigo couldn't manage a small sliver of irritation. Odd.

"What's up Ichigo?" Renji questioned, he too watching Ichigo's movements like a hawk. What the hell was with them all today? More importantly what the hell was wrong with him?

Ichigo shrugged as he poured himself a full cup; he added more sugar and creamer than usual, trying to douse the sour taste he had in his mouth. He didn't forget to brush his teeth did he? Something on his face maybe? Well, if there was he didn't care right now. He had a case to work.

"Did you get the autopsy report from Uryu this morning?" Ichigo stiffened knowing he'd forgotten about the only request Grimmjow had given him that morning.

_Shit._

"I'll take your silence as a no." Grimmjow added, Ichigo heard the anger in his tone.

He'd let him down.

Did he care?_ Maybe._ Ichigo frowned at the thought; no he most definitely didn't care. He'd just go get the report now and he could get started on the details.

"It slipped my min –" Ichigo started only to be cut off by Grimmjow's angry accusation.

"I get it Ichigo. You can demand I do something, but when I request something from you. It's out of the question, yeah I got it. I'll get the damn report, keep your pride intact." Ichigo set his cup back down on the counter, anger welled under his skin and threatened to tear Ichigo piece by living piece.

People made mistakes, didn't they? Why was Grimmjow jumping his ass because he fucked up once… no not once. An image of Owen's face came to his mind, dousing his anger with self loathing.

He tried to put on his poker face, throwing up his walls and protecting himself – a moment too late, everything he'd just been feeling registered on his face and Grimmjow fell into silence once again. No one moved, and Ichigo was sure of it this time, no one even breathed.

"Grimmjow." Ichigo said his voice so cold it scared even himself. The tension built and built, if you looked at it, it were as if Ichigo was the calmest person on Earth, when in reality a war was raging inside him.

Ichigo clenched and unclenched his fists, reigning in his anger as he continued, "Last time I checked, I was human. We make mistakes. I forgot the report, I'll go get it now. And then, I'm going to bring it back up here, hand it to you and then ask for transferring papers. I have a job to do and if you're going to badger my every mistake, I'm afraid I'll put a bullet through you too."

There it was the pin had fallen on the scale and it seemed like an explosion had just gone off. Ichigo was surprised by himself, he'd never brought up the incident willingly – never played those cards.

"Ichigo." He listened to Chad whisper under his breath, Ichigo's grip on his coffee mug tightened.

"The fuck was it that you all wanted me to say? 'Sorry Grimmjow I forgot the report on my way up. If you just wait right here I'll go get it for you.'?" Ichigo plastered the smallest, most fake smile onto his face. What was he doing? He'd lost it, his chest ached and more than anything the last sliver of pride he did have shattered. Like a puff of dust, it had settled and gone elsewhere, where the wind had blown it.

"I've got a case to work on, so kindly, Grimmjow please stand far away from my way towards the door. I'm going to finish my coffee, you guys are going to pick up your routines and leave me the hell alone." Ichigo snapped before someone else could say anything. He was already draining his mug when a hand touched his shoulder.

"Kago murdered several people Ichigo. He was a murderer. You had a justified reason for pulling the trigger." Ichigo's chest felt heavy when he looked over his shoulder to see Renji looking at him with the same look he'd received for months. It pissed him off, it hurt to see the pity.

"The only difference between Kago and me is that I'm alive and he's dead." Ichigo surprised himself again, the stinging he felt behind his eyes only grew and the taste in his mouth tasted so vile his stomach churned over and over.

The grip only got tighter, and suddenly he was being propelled backwards and his non-bruised cheek was aching. His back screamed in pain, he rested against the wall for a long time before looking up.

"Feel better?" Renji shot him a pained glare as he flexed his fist.

Ichigo reigned in his anger and looked around. Everyone looked at him again, what was so damn interesting about him today?

"How would your mother be able to live with herself if she saw you like this. Answer me that Ichigo?" Renji accused icily, Ichigo didn't miss the visible wince at the jab.

Ichigo steeled his emotions, if that's how Renji was going to play; Ichigo wanted no part in it. Slowly, achingly Ichigo got to his feet with the support of the counter.

"I wouldn't know, she's dead too." Was his response, he looked past Renji at the blue burning orbs.

Ichigo knew Grimmjow wanted to say something but he wouldn't. Ichigo didn't know Grimmjow well enough, but his gut told him Grimmjow didn't respond well to threats. Good, because the threat would space them out and Ichigo could finish the case and leave the department sooner.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get Detective Jaggerjaquez his autopsy report." Ichigo limped slightly from the pain in his lower back – if the pain didn't go away he was going to have to return to the hospital. He could almost laugh at his shit luck.

Ichigo dragged a hand through his over grown hair. Despite everything that was going on, he still managed to mentally note he would schedule a hair cut for this weekend, or sooner. Maybe he'd just let it grow out. He quickly decided against it, it'd be a pain in the ass.

"When you're done being self destructive Ichigo, come back to us." Ichigo stopped in his tracks. Renji had always dropped his little comments here and there about Ichigo's health, but he'd never been so blunt about his concerns. He'd never pointed out anything in front of the other detectives. And now that he did Ichigo noticed that deep within him, he held a smaller reserve of pride but now that too was being swiped away.

Ichigo left quietly, he didn't have any more to say. There was no last word, the experience had left him withdrawn and beaten down. Drained and in pain, his back reminded him of its presence quickly.

***.***

"What the hell." Grimmjow muttered under his breath long after the image of Ichigo's retreating back had disappeared from view. He looked back at Renji who looked back at him, worry engraved in his face. It stunned him earlier at the quick punch that the redhead landed on Ichigo, what stunned him more was Ichigo's reaction and the way he fell on his ass. It showed just how unstable he truly was.

Ichigo had threatened to shoot Grimmjow, hadn't he? It pissed him off thinking about the forced smile that'd crept along the orangette's features. Shoot Grimmjow? He could try, but Grimmjow would sure as hell return fire.

"We should get to work." Starrk announced as he pushed up from the couch. Oddly enough he was going to work from his desk today – that was a surprise.

All at once their pagers beeped and each one checked them. 'Meeting in ten.'

_Great way to start off the week. Get threatened by your partner, injure your partner, now you have to deal with seeing your partner again. _

"Better get going."

**XXX**

Thoughts and dull aches plagued Ichigo as he entered the conference room, open autopsy report in hand. His eyes skimmed once again over the details, they left him feeling cold and wanting to get the meeting done and over with so he could read more into the details.

He was four minutes late to the meeting because of the cluster fuck he had to deal settle with Uryu. As he thought the four-eyed man would question his bruises, fresh and aging ones, and then he'd question the back brace. Ichigo told the bare minimum of details, it was hardly Uryu's business about Ichigo's health, and quickly left as soon as he could. His pager had alerted him of the meeting as he had walked into the morgue. Now that he was actually in the meeting room he was reminded by the morning's earlier events.

All the detectives were in their usual seating, except Renji sat further down, Grimmjow had taken the seat beside his and was looking at him skeptically.

"Nice of you to join us, Kurosaki." Captain Kenpachi ground through his teeth, of course the bell haired man would be irritated with Ichigo's lateness, but it still sparked Ichigo's anger quickly.

"My apologies." Ichigo muttered taking his seat, he wasn't about to give an excuse. He could have been here sooner but if he was honest he was prolonging the awkwardness of the meeting.

"What happened to you?" Ichigo turned to meet Chief Yamamoto's questioning gaze.

"I fell Sir. Managed to throw my back out and hit my face." He lied smoothly but with regret. He hated lying with an extreme passion.

"Hmm." Yamamoto murmured, he didn't believe Ichigo for a second but he wouldn't press the matter. Maybe. Ichigo laid the report on the table and settled into the back of the all-too-familiar chair.

"The current homicides are showing signs of a serial killer. We're extending the case to all of you Detectives. It's going to be a group case and all other smaller cases will be handled by the officers." Kenpachi said in a business like tone.

Ichigo looked from the grey haired man back to Kenpachi so quickly he nearly had whiplash. "That's my case Kenpachi."

"It was and now it's everyone's, are you questioning my authority?" Kenpachi spat back.

"No Sir. I'm saying, I've got it handled." Ichigo retorted eyes narrowing at Kenpachi.

"This is what you call handled Detective Kurosaki, two unsolved, very brutal murders and not even a shed of a lead. What the hell have you and Detective Jaggerjaquez been doing, putting your heads in the sandbox won't do it this time around."

Ichigo's upper lip twitched, "It's only been four days since the murders started springing up, so far we don't have enough evidence to prove both murders are connected and done by the same person, _Sir._ You of all people know you cannot solve a murder within less than a week."

Ichigo spun the folder down to Kenpachi, he heard the small rustle of bells as Kenpachi opened the folder and skimmed through it.

"Our second victim, Ryan Elswig. Died from brain bleeding, the first victim was shot close range and to the head, the attacker had acted out of blind fury this time around. The kid was orphaned, only one living relative, an older sister who lives close to where he had been attacked. I planned on speaking with her later today, but the meeting is being called and you're wasting my time. I don't need extra hands on _my _case, something somewhere will get fu-..messed up and we can't let the attacker – if indeed the murders are connected, to catch wind that we're chasing our tails." Ichigo said matter-of-factly.

Kenpachi starred at Ichigo, Ichigo starred back.

"It's no longer your case Ichigo." Ichigo's gaze lingered awhile longer on Kenpachi before he focused back to Chief Yamamoto. "A group case would raise everyone's morale, Captain Kenpachi has the right idea and it'd be best if you didn't fight it any longer."

His grip tightened around the arms of his chair. He didn't need the fucking help, it was his fucking case and anyone else added into the investigation would likely tip off and alert the press about the matters at hand. That's the last Ichigo needed, a messy tail-chasing case that goes cold because more people are sniffing around than needed.

"Sir, I agree with Detective Kurosaki I don't think there should be more hands on the case. What Detective Kurosaki has logically pointed out is that if the cases are linked and a serial killer has popped up, we don't want to alert anyone of it. The public would be in a frenzy, we don't know the killer's personality or if they've got a pattern but from the reports he or she is angry and a lot angry at that. The murders might become more brutal and increase if they're enjoying the publicity of it all." Grimmjow said evenly letting his brows pull together with thought before he continued, "Give us until Wednesday, please. If we don't have a single lead by then, we'll willingly open the investigation to the group."

"Huh?" Ichigo starred at the blue haired man. Like hell he'd give up his investigation to the whole team, fuck that.

"You have until tomorrow, Detective Jaggerjaquez, not Wednesday. We can't risk the time." Yamamoto said with finality, ending the discussion and moving on to the next matter, "We've got elementary children coming to the building tomorrow. Full uniform tomorrow."

"Great." Ichigo rolled his eyes, now he'd have to entertain kids tomorrow too, how the hell was he going to get everything done within forty-eight hours? _Damn it._

**XXX**

Hours later, Ichigo was restlessly searching through the papers on his desk. He pinned the two victim's photos to the board behind him, the first victim had recently been identified – her name was Rosilin Gretchen, and like Ryan she was orphaned.

_Ok so there's one similarity, that doesn't make them connected. _ Ichigo's eyes traveled to the reports on his desk, they'd both been found with an odd object in their mouths. Rosilin the flower petal and Ryan the perfume. _Ok, so two similarities. _His mind flipped through his current knowledge.

There wasn't a gun in the second murder, nor were the victims familiar with each other, they shared no background together that Ichigo was aware of at the moment, he had several connections looking into the victims relationships, not to one another but to others as well. If they had any enemies, Ichigo would know and question those people first. Right now he was stumped though, he had nothing to do, he couldn't focus hard enough on other cases because the dead line of tomorrow with this case. It'd really burnt his ass when he'd heard the proposal, but time was limited and if they were connected Ichigo and everyone else needed to have a jump on the facts ASAP.

The lab results for sexual assault on both victims came back negative, neither were intoxicated, neither under the influence of any drugs. They were both good, contributing citizens who'd been killed for no reason. No reason that Ichigo knew of.

Ichigo jotted down small notes on the white board and cleared the rest of the research on his desk. Nothing. There wasn't a single complaint, each victim paid their bills, each victim stayed out of trouble. So why was the hair on the back of Ichigo's neck standing on end?

Ichigo sighed heavily and reclaimed his seat, turning it around so he could face the boards he had set up against the wall. He chewed on the inside of his cheek and tried to make a third connection between the victims. He couldn't. No matter how hard he thought, the cogs were turning but they weren't producing anything. It was like Ichigo had gotten his car stuck in much with no way of getting it out, he needed gravel or cat litter to get traction, in this case those factors would be connections between the murders.

Maybe he was looking at a blank page that was meant to be left blank, maybe there wasn't supposed to be any connections and this was just random killing with two murderers. No connection at all. Ichigo wanted so badly to believe that, but right now his gut was stuck with the feeling he had in the meeting this morning. The idea of this case escalating left Ichigo's blood running cool but yet running hot, the adrenaline was getting to his focus.

"Just give me something." Ichigo whispered running a hand down his face. He hadn't let himself think of anything other than the case, he could feel the sneaked looks his way, it stopped bothering him by now – he'd had enough days like this to get by without causing another scene.

Ichigo turned back to face his laptop, opened to his email; he quickly went through and cleared out the spam, blocking and deleting each message. He had a few from old college buddies, one from Keigo, he was the same as he'd always been – hyper and an unlucky perverse bachelor, he wanted to get drinks some time, if Keigo wanted to catch up Ichigo would automatically invite the rest of the guys; Mizuiro, Chad, Renji, Uryu and himself. But if Renji came, Rukia would tag along and if Rukia tagged along Orihime would want to join them. It seemed like a high school night of planning already. Shaking his head with a small laugh he emailed Keigo back.

"_Saturday dinner would be a better idea, I'll get Renji, Chad, Orihime, Rukia and Uryu to come along also. Invite Mizuiro and Tatsuki too, might as well get the whole group together again right?" _ Ichigo hit send not expecting a quick reply he was hovering over the sign out button when a new email popped into his inbox from Keigo.

"_Sounds good Ichigo, it'll be good to have everyone together again. Tell the twins I said happy late birthday too by the way, I forgot to call them on Saturday. I'll email you a place and time. –Keigo." _ Ichigo made a quick reply and signed out before the fool could distract him from his job.

Ichigo yawned loudly, he'd forgotten about his lack of sleep and looked over to see Grimmjow missing from his desk. He'd had a rougher night than Ichigo last night, after dropping Ichigo off at home Grimmjow headed back to the department and was working throughout the night. The mountains of papers on his desk yesterday had been sent back to the information department and the useful papers remained in a neat pile, Grimmjow hadn't added much to his desk, only a laptop, which was closed, and a container of pens.

Ichigo could help thinking it was a bit lame that he kept the photo of Kago on his desk, but he wasn't about to remove it. Ichigo looked at the stacks of old research papers and quickly went through them, sorting out the files that were of no use to the small stack that could assist their investigation. Ichigo then carried stack after stack to the secretary and instead of having her write things down he sticky-noted each stack and asked her, when she had the time, to see that they got to where they belonged.

What else did he have left to do? It was only five in the evening and he still had a few more hours of work before he could go home. He hadn't seen or come up with any leads when he was going back through the research papers. It was eerie how bare the murders could be, whoever was behind the killings, one person or two they knew what they were doing. The murders seemed planned, otherwise the bodies would have given off the reckless-anger abuse feeling, instead not one, but possibly two people managed to reign in their anger through the kill and made it an organized brutality.

It could have been a gang killing, wrong place wrong time? That'd be coincidence, a strong coincidence. The thought was a stretch, the two victims were good people and gangs were rare in Karakura since there were so many officers and such. But no matter the amount of security in one place, crime always happens, no matter what.

Ichigo had apparently started pacing in between the desks as he thought, it was an old habit that Kago had made fun of him for but he did his best thinking when he paced. Even though he shouldn't be standing or walking much from what the Doctor had told him. Then again it was a back problem, if he laid down or sat he'd have the same risk of injury as standing and walking around. So basically, screw what the doctor said.

Ichigo stopped in his tracks. Doctor, medical records, they could've had some sort of problem – therapy group most likely, and it could be someone they knew – that could be his connection. He turned and walked right into a wall.

"Oomph fuck." Ichigo murmured rubbing his nose he turned and tensed. Renji, Chad and Ulquiorra watched him with slight concern – it was strange having Ulquiorra concerned about him since the man rarely showed emotions in the first place. Ignoring them he made his way, more cautiously back to his desk.

He seemed accident prone.

_Maybe Uryu already checked that theory out though. Can't hurt to call and ask I suppose._ Ichigo picked up his desk phone and started dialing rubbing away the small ache on his nose. After four rings Uryu answered.

"Morgue, Ishida speaking."

"Hey Uryu, it's Ichigo, I've got a question. When you were autopsying either victim did you look into their medical records?" Ichigo asked weighing from foot to foot.

"I had to check for allergies, cause of death for the second Victim, other than him I haven't checked on the woman's… uh, Rosilin's." Ichigo listened to Uryu for a moment as he told Ichigo everything he knew. Which was everything Ichigo knew. He sighed into the phone and rubbed his head.

"Alright, thanks Uryu, I'll call if I have any more questions."

"Anytime Ichigo, and if you need to talk about what happened this morning, my office is always open okay?"

"Yea, I got it. Oh I almost forgot, I got an email from Keigo he wants the whole lot of us to go to dinner Saturday night. He'd picking a place and time, when I know you'll know. If you want to come at all, you don't have to if you already have plans but its Keigo and a chance for us all to catch up." Ichigo felt awkward with extra eyes on him as he spoke.

"That'd be fun, don't forget to tell me where to meet this time okay?"

"Psh that was one time." Ichigo laughed and turned from the wandering eyes. "I've got a few calls and a house trip to make. I'll see you later."

"Goodbye Ichigo." Ichigo heard the click of the phone and then the tune of the disconnected call.

Immediately he pressed the number for the research department dreading the phone call with Szayel. The phone was answered on the first ring, which surprised Ichigo.

"Research, Szayelaporro Granz speaking." Ichigo shuddered from the singsong voice Szayel was using.

"Detective –"

"Mr. Kurosaki~ Making it a habit to call me every day aren't you, if you wanted a date you could just ask me in person you know." Ichigo audibly gagged.

"You should let other research department workers answer the phone once in awhile, Mr. Granz. Anyway, I need to pull medical records for Ryan Elswig and Rosilin Gretchen. You don't have to send them up, I just need to ask a few questions."

Ichigo was put on hold and while he enjoyed the elevator music he'd heard enough of it today from riding the elevator and held the phone away from his ear. Grimmjow had emerged from the break room, looking like hell but still a little more rested than he had been all day, Ichigo was sure he'd taken a nap.

"Mr. Kurosaki?" Ichigo pressed the phone back to his ear and turned away from Grimmjow, who was making his ways towards him. Well, most likely his desk.

"I'm here."

"Okay, I have both files pulled up on my screen. What are you looking for?" If Szayel was any more flamboyant right now Ichigo would hang up and call when he was off work tonight. He shook his head and got down to business putting the thought away.

"I need you to tell me if they went to a support group or anything of the sort together. Therapy, if they went to the same doctor. Anything relating to one another." Ichigo waited expectantly.

He listened to Szayel hum and more than likely he was being very thorough, Ichigo didn't like talking over the phone but he'd just gotten rid of multiple stacks of useless research, he didn't need any more. The secretary looked like she was going to blow a blood vessel when Ichigo finally got done.

"There's nothing similar between the two. Neither went to therapy for anything, they got their checkups done by separate doctors and neither went to the same pharmacy to refill their medication subscriptions, which they rarely had any. Both were mostly in tip top condition. Is there anything else you need to know?"

"Not with those two, can you pull up the parents medical records?" Ichigo covered his yawn.

"Are they deceased? You know confidentiality rules." Of course the only time Szayel wasn't being flirtatious he was burning Ichigo's ass with the rules.

"In Ryan and Rosilin's records it should've reported they were orphans." Ichigo cleared his throat, "So yes, Mr. Granz they are indeed dead."

"Oh testy Ichigo, that's sexy." Ichigo's eye twitched, "I've got them pulled up, what do you need?"

"How did they die?"

"Ryan's mother died giving birth, it's rare but it still happens. His father died in a plane crash when he was sixteen. As for Ms. Rosilin, her parents died in a car crash. Death was ruled double suicide."

Ichigo's brows pulled together. _Well shit, that's rough._

"Thank you Mr. Granz, that's all."

"You're most welcome. Have a good night. Oh Mr. Kurosaki, you should get more sleep. Your yawns are close to moans." Then the line went dead.

Ichigo couldn't slam the phone down any faster. Anger boiled under his skin, he was tempted to go right down to the second floor and kick Szayel's ass. That'd get him reprimanded and he was in no shape for a proper ass kicking, the brace reminding him of his injury.

"Uh-oh, Ichigo's on a rampage." Gin teased, Ichigo threw a cold glare at him. Maybe he could kick Gin's ass and feel better. Deciding against getting written up Ichigo grabbed his laptop, shoved it in his bag, grabbed his coat and flipped off his desk lamp.

He needed to get out of the office before he broke something, or someone. So he was going to go pay Laina Elswig a visit, hopefully she was off work.

"Where are you going Ichigo?" Grimmjow questioned as Ichigo headed for the door.

"Going to go question Ryan's sister, I'll be back in a bit."

"I'm coming with you."

"No."

Ichigo grit his teeth, he didn't want to take anyone else along, and if it was just him he'd get things done quicker.

"No?" Grimmjow questioned tightly.

"Yep, no. You're not coming with me, it'll be quicker if I go by myself. Stay here in case someone calls with information."

"Hell no, I'm coming with you _Partner._" Grimmjow stressed the last word but Ichigo was already out the door not allowing any more protests. He decided on the stairs since he wouldn't have to risk Grimmjow catching up to him and tagging along.

He took the steps slowly at first, but then heard the door open and then crash closed. _Grimmjow. _ Ichigo really didn't want Grimmjow to come with, so he quickened his pace taking the steps two to three at a time, each time his back protested to the jarring movements but soon he was at the end of the exertion and crashed out the door and into the underground parking lot. Where he quickly located his car and ran to it, throwing himself in the driver's seat he slammed the key into the ignition and turned it over.

The car groaned and didn't start. He tried it again. Nothing.

"Damn it." He popped the hood and got back out of his car, with a mini flashlight he popped the hood open. He checked the oil first noticing that the level shown on the rod was very low. Shutting the hood of his car he pressed his head against the cool metal.

"Car troubles?" Grimmjow didn't even try to hide the smugness in his voice.

"Double damn it." Ichigo mumbled.

"If you stay bent over like that you're going to hurt your back." Grimmjow warned. Ichigo stayed where he was, he'd already done a lot of stupid shit today – running down the flights of stairs would be the worst, this wasn't even close to the pain he'd felt when running. Now though it was as if he were pulling stitches, tugging them and pushing them so they tear through his skin.

"Ichigo?" Ichigo stiffened by the hand on his hip, the warmth of Grimmjow's hand seeped through the bottom of his shirt. Grimmjow was behind him but a little off to the side but the position still looked sketchy. He straightened quickly, wincing at the sudden pain. The brace kept his back in position but it didn't make all the pain go away – which was a pain in the ass… well the back.

"What?" Ichigo huffed, glancing at Grimmjow's hand that remained on his hip. He felt awkward with it there, but mostly because he didn't mind it there, that was fucking weird in its own way.

"Seems like you're having car trouble, so we'll take my car. Thanks for waiting." Grimmjow grinned and kept his hand discreetly on Ichigo's hip.

Ichigo hadn't waited for him, he'd run away from him. Where the hell did he think they were going together? _Why hasn't he taken his hand off me? _ Who the hell did he think he was? Ichigo sidestepped, knocking his knee on his car. He hissed and pulled his leg back. The throbbing remained as he bent to rub the tender bone.

"You seem to be having a bad time keeping yourself in one piece, Ichigo." Ichigo could feel Grimmjow's eyes on him. More specifically on his ass, Grimmjow was ogling his ass. How dare he.

"Could you not stare at my ass like a hungry lion?" Ichigo snapped turning himself away from Grimmjow but remaining bent over as he rubbed the soreness away.

"I'll stare at it if I want." Grimmjow challenged stepping into view of Ichigo's ass again.

"When my back's back to normal, I'm going to kick your ass." Ichigo barked managing to straighten his back again.

"Yeah yeah, c'mon we've gotta case to investigate." Grimmjow laughed guiding Ichigo, he was actually guiding him, what the fuck? Grimmjow's hand was on the brace, directly on the small of his back. Ichigo's eye twitched.

_You're going to treat me like a female? I'll rip your throat out and feed it to the hungry cats, Dick. _

"If you keep looking at me like that I might have to take you against the wall."

Ichigo grabbed Grimmjow's hand and twisted it behind his back shoving the taller man against the wall before he could blink. Grimmjow's shoulders shook and loud laughter drifted to Ichigo's ears and it pissed Ichigo off even more than what he already was.

"This is cute Ichigo, you think you can hold me, take me on. Oh I get it, you have a bottom complex, and we'll have to get you used to that." Grimmjow's little taunts increased Ichigo's anger, so he lifted Grimmjow's arm uncomfortably high.

Wait did he say something about a bottom complex? Ichigo? Have a bottom complex? More like, a homosexual complex, Ichigo was straight – right? Oh god, now Grimmjow had him questioning his sexuality. Not good, not good, definitely not good.

Ichigo must have at some point loosened his grip because Grimmjow quickly took advantage of the distraction and flipped the situation – except he was being much gentler, yet applying the right force. Ichigo's bruised cheek was pressed into the cool cement wall and watching Grimmjow from the corner of his eye, his hair was so long it blocked part of his vision. He thought he saw something more in Grimmjow's eyes just then, but it was gone so fast he couldn't really see what it was.

"As much fun as this is Carrot Top, we do need to get going. Maybe later we can pick up this position somewhere more private." Grimmjow whispered close to Ichigo's ear sending a series of shivers down Ichigo's spine, what those shivers meant were beyond Ichigo's knowledge at the moment. Grimmjow pulled Ichigo's arm up higher, Ichigo grunted from the pain.

"Let go." Ichigo rose to his toes giving his arm some relief, he was using the wall as support when Grimmjow immediately dropped his arm and his body gave out against it. It took a few minutes for the pain in both his back and shoulder to subside. He rested against the wall breathing deep. Despite all the anger Ichigo felt at that moment, he was in too much pain to use any of it on Grimmjow.

"Ready to go?"

Ichigo frowned rubbing his shoulder. He didn't want to go with Grimmjow, he wanted to do this on his own – but he didn't have a choice, Grimmjow would be persistent on this. And frankly Grimmjow was his only other option.

"Damn it." Ichigo muttered as he got into the Shelby.

**XXX**

Laina set two cups of tea on her coffee table before taking her own seat. Grimmjow watched her tuck her feet under her and then looked at the tissues on the side table next to her chair. If he could help it, he'd avoid making her cry – not so sure about Ichigo though, he looked ready to go, ready to fight something. Grimmjow knew the tenseness was because they had a deadline and he also knew Ichigo really didn't want anyone's help on this case. Not even his help, that's what irked Grimmjow, Ichigo wouldn't let him do his job.

It's not something to get really pissed about, since Grimmjow got his own form of revenge on the Carrot Top in the underground parking lot. Thinking about it made his dick twitch, he needed to focus and not get an erection in front of the suspect, last thing he needed was sexual harassment charges pressed against him. Damn Ichigo for making his body react like this.

"You said Ryan came here for breakfast and left around noon, correct?" Grimmjow asked, casually adjusting his pants.

"Yes, Ryan and I talked about a vacation soon, since we both were in need of some relaxation. Now I-I'll have to cancel my plans and instead plan a funeral." Tears pooled in her eyes and Grimmjow stiffened.

"Do you remember him acting strangely? Anything out of the ordinary?" Ichigo swooped to the rescue, he knew how to handle women, knew how to move their attention to something else. Grimmjow was almost envious.

"No, he was relaxed and he was happy. He'd made great commission with some customer, Ryan said his name was Ichigo." Liana said easily. Grimmjow side glanced briefly then returned his attention.

"Ah, I'll have to look into him. Even if it's not a threat, just to be thorough." Ichigo's jaw clenched. From what Grimmjow observed, he did that when he was lying – like this morning in the conference room, he'd clenched his jaw. Okay, this was good, Grimmjow was learning about his Partner, whether the information was given or not, he didn't care.

"Okay, do you have any leads as to who could've done it?" She starred at Ichigo, hopeful – not knowing anything would be hard on any family member, people lived for knowledge, it was a primitive instinct.

"We can't disclose any information on an open investigation. I promise you'll be the first to know when the person who did this is caught." Ichigo reassured her steadily, he was undoubtedly good at his job. Even though he didn't work well with others, he had people skills. Sometimes.

"I understand." She sucked in a shaky breath and adjusted herself.

"May I use your restroom?" Grimmjow asked standing.

"Sure, it's down the hall and second door on the right." Laina said pointing towards the hallway, tissue in hand. It seemed like a good time to escape, women crying really didn't do it for him, he didn't know how to react or what to say and normally he ended up making them angry, so it was just best Ichigo handled the situation.

He strode down the hall, counted the doors and entered the second on the right. His hand found the light switch and a bright red bathroom appeared in front of his eyes. He shuffled inside, closed and locked the door behind him. He lifted the lid and gave the impression that he was taking care of business.

Trifling through the drawers silently he found women products, a full drawer of hair ties and other hair accessories, he turned his attention to the mirror cabinets. Easily pressed open he noted the multiple yellow prescription bottles, all prescribed to Laina Elswig. Then he found more small bottles of Shampoo, soap, body lotion, etc.

In his opinion it was just too much shit to have in one place, it cluttered and made a mess. She had a few bras on the towel rack, a grungy looking towel and the glass shower was closed. Nothing out of the ordinary, he looked in the trash, seeing that it was empty he pressed the lever on the toilet and set the lid back down. He turned on the faucet and then turned to the towel closet behind him, opening it very silently he looked at the contents, towels. All towels.

How many towels did a woman need? Grimmjow owned four towels, when one got worn he bought a new one and threw the other out. No sense in hording it, he wouldn't use it. Shaking his head he closed the door, and turned the faucet off. He waited a couple seconds to give the impression he dried his hands and then unlocked the door and headed back to the living area.

**XXX**

"Did you find anything in the bathroom?" Ichigo asked when they were safely in the privacy of Grimmjow's Shelby.

"Only a mass amount of fucking towels, she had a few prescribed medications, but nothing out of the ordinary. Did you learn anything?" Grimmjow asked as he turned into the traffic.

"Only that you don't handle crying women very well." Ichigo tucked into the passenger seat. She'd asked about his brace and he'd answered that was about all they talked about before Grimmjow returned and they gave their condolences and left.

"Tch." Grimmjow shifted the car into the turning lane and headed the opposite direction of the department.

"Where are we going?"

"Your car's out of oil. I figured while we're out and about we can get you some oil before you break the timing belt." Grimmjow mumbled thoughtlessly.

"Oh, thank you for reminding me. I should change my oil soon, can't remember doing it for a month or so now."

"Keeping that car in good condition, I think we'll be able to get along after all Carr – Ichigo." Grimmjow quickly amended. "Sorry, habit now."

"That's okay, every time I think about you I think 'Smurf', one big as fucking smurf." Ichigo said with a chuckle.

"A smurf? Really?" Grimmjow pulled into the auto-shop's parking lot and found an empty spot close to the entrance.

Ichigo shrugged hauling himself from the car. Instantly Grimmjow and he were bombarded by the mechanics, all looking hopelessly in love with Grimmjow's car. Oh yes, even Ichigo had been there. He understood and could relate with these older and younger gentlemen that ogled every metal inch, every metal crevasse. Even now he found his eyes were caressing the beautiful machine.

"Come on Ichigo." Grimmjow said moving past the mechanics trying to ask him questions. Ichigo had less of a struggle and quickly made his way into the building. He bought the oil he needed and just as quickly as they arrived they were back on the road.

Little was Ichigo aware of the massive erection Grimmjow was sporting, he'd watched Ichigo stride with ease in the small building and the attracting urge as Ichigo knelt down to look at the oils. Those tight, form fitting pants would be the death of Grimmjow – he wanted Ichigo, because he was a hot head, he challenged Grimmjow. Confused him to hell but then made sense of everything.

Grimmjow bit his lip praying Ichigo didn't look over, and then hoping to god he didn't look down. Grimmjow hadn't let his eyes off the road, but he was sure his dress pants were tented. He needed to calm down, he was already coming on too strong to Ichigo he could feel it earlier when they were close and he let his hand linger on Ichigo's hip.

_Damn. Damn. Damn._

Grimmjow only started feeling these damn urges because the dream tease he'd had while he napped earlier. Ichigo had seduced him, fucked him until they were both sweaty and raw and then he woke up – sporting an awkwardly painful erection.

"Where are we going now?" _I'm going to take you home and make all your fantasies come true._

"Grocery store, figured I'd drop you off at work, you can get your car oiled up and then I'd follow you home and make you dinner. I've got nothing better to do, and we can work on the case more comfortably at your house – or mine, if you'd rather go there and then have to drive home." Grimmjow chanced a side glance. Ichigo watched him cautiously.

"Okay, but it's not my fault if Tez bites you. He doesn't like meeting new people."

"You named your dog Tez?" Grimmjow grinned.

"Kago did." Grimmjow saw the small pain that flashed over Ichigo's eyes, and then it was gone. "I couldn't come up with anything and Kago helped me rescue Tez as a pup. I figured, why the hell not ya'know? Anyway though, Tez doesn't like strangers so if he bites you, he's had his shots."

"Animals generally get along with me, I'm not worried about it." Grimmjow assured driving into the parking lot, he quickly found a spot and they were up and out of the car.

***.***

"Everything looks good. What do you want, steak, pork chops or fish?" Ichigo asked without looking over his shoulder, Grimmjow stood with the half full cart ogling the curves of Ichigo's ass.

_You. _"How about getting it all? We're healthy men, we'd eat it." Grimmjow mumbled letting his gaze drop back to the luscious mounds taunting him as Ichigo grabbed the packages of steak, pork chops and fish.

They had vegetables and fruits in the cart already, some spices and chips. Ichigo had grabbed a couple cases of beer since he was running low and he'd rather stock up now before he ran out. He liked coming home to a cold beer after work, it relaxed him enough to go take a shower and eventually fade into a light slumber. Ichigo's eyes skimmed over the big roast, it looked so delicious he grabbed it and put it in the cart too.

"We're going to feed an army." He mumbled with a slight frown.

"Or two very big men." Grimmjow joked steering the cart down the next aisle. The dessert aisle; where Grimmjow tossed in a few boxes of chocolate cake and powder sugar to make his own chocolate mousse icing. "Have everything you need, Ichigo? Ichigo?"

Grimmjow looked down the aisle and spotted Ichigo squatted down talking with a small child. The little boy was crying softly and Ichigo was talking calmly to the boy calming him, from what Grimmjow could tell from a distance, he pushed the cart towards Ichigo and the small child.

"Taiga? Taiga? Honey where are you, mommy is serious. Taiga." Grimmjow listened to a woman calling loudly but quiet enough to not disturb others, he listened to the sense of urgency and halted the cart.

He left the cart in view of Ichigo and rounded the aisle where he found the pale woman searching behind the paper towels for her 'hiding' child. "Ma'am, are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine, but I can't find my son." Her hair was dark red, the same color as the child's and he could tell the resemblance immediately.

"I think my Partner found him ma'am, about this tall?" Grimmjow indicated to his knee, "Red hair, looks like you ma'am."

"Oh thank god, where is he?" He turned on his heel and led the way, he listened to the small clicks of her heels against the floor.

Ichigo grinned at Grimmjow and turned the teary-eyed child around for him to see his mother. The woman exhaled with relief and hurried to her child, Grimmjow stood by Ichigo's side and watched the woman soothe her worried heart and again-crying son.

"Thank you so much. Taiga likes to run off and scare mommy." The redhead said softly placing a kiss on the kid's forehead.

"Taiga, how fierce." Ichigo commented smiling at the woman.

"This is your partner?" The woman asked looking at Grimmjow.

"Yes ma'am, one and only. Found him down the aisle talking with your son and then I heard you, so I went to assist, as best I could." Grimmjow smiled feeling proud of his good deed done for the day.

"You two make a lovely couple, thank you both again. Taiga say goodbye to the nice men." Taiga said his farewell and they were gone before Grimmjow could correct the woman.

Grimmjow hesitantly looked over to Ichigo, stunned he took in what he saw. Ichigo's face was beet red and he wasn't looking at Grimmjow, he was staring at his feet.

"Sorry, she misunderstood when I said Partner." Grimmjow mumbled making his way back to the cart and steering it to the nearest checkout lane that was open. He began placing the purchases on the conveyor belt, and wordlessly Ichigo helped.

They got everything back into the cart in bags and Grimmjow dug out his wallet. Ichigo grabbed his wallet too but Grimmjow was faster, he handed over his card and watched Ichigo boil where he stood. The cashier returned Grimmjow's card and he quickly re-placed the card in his wallet and shoved it back into his back pocket.

Ichigo pushed the cart towards the entrance and the snug pants reminded Grimmjow of his arousal. While he was here…

"Shit, I forgot ice cream. Go ahead and put the groceries in the car, I'll be right out." Grimmjow lied handing Ichigo the keys and heading towards the frozen section, when he saw Ichigo out of sight he dashed for the condom aisle, finding it he found his size and grabbed the first one he saw. Then he made his way back to the ice cream, grabbed a small carton of vanilla ice cream and checked out.

He shoved the condoms in his back pocket along with his wallet and headed out of the store.

**XXX**

"Since you paid, I'm cooking." Ichigo said, grabbing a bulk of the groceries and heading for his house. He grabbed his keys and unlocked the door. He pushed the door open and wrestled the bags inside and into the kitchen. Grimmjow followed silently bags in hand as he closed the door quietly behind him.

A German Sheppard padded down the hallway and sniffed Grimmjow, "This must be Tez."

The dog's tail wagged and he barked, it looked like the dog was smiling at him. Nothing like his owner at all. Grimmjow smiled and slipped out of his shoes before going towards the direction Ichigo went.

Ichigo was already unpacking the bags and pulling out the pots and pans for each dish, turning the burners on and opening the meats. Grimmjow put the ice cream away in the freezer and set the cake mixes and powder sugar on the counter against the wall.

"Would you like a beer?" Ichigo asked Grimmjow, "I think they're still a little cold but if you want yours colder it can go in the fridge for a half hour and you can have one at dinner."

"I'll take one now." Grimmjow smiled wickedly, Ichigo looked like he needed something to relax him anyway and the way the brace tugged the shirt up it had exposed the sun kissed flesh and teased Grimmjow the whole ride to the department. And then Grimmjow had suffered through Ichigo bent over his car.

Sexual frustration was the least of his problems right now.

He was hungry.

***.***

Ichigo felt Grimmjow's eyes on him for the thousandth time tonight. Why couldn't he just stare at the ground or something other than him? Ichigo knew he was staring at his ass, which made him both self conscious and have a strong urge to tease. Maybe he was just over reacting and Grimmjow was looking around at his house appliances. Admiring the interior design.

Ichigo glanced over his shoulder slowly, yeah nope; Grimmjow wasn't admiring the interior design. He was staring directly at his ass. There wasn't anything sneaky about it; he was being plain as day obvious that that's what he was – is looking at.

"I'm going to spit on your food if you keep looking at me like that." Ichigo warned as he flipped the steaks. He should have argued more with the idea of coming to his place, they could've stayed in the office all night, would've been more uncomfortable seating wise but at least Ichigo wouldn't have to worry about his ass catching fire from Grimmjow's gaze.

"That's not much of a threat." Grimmjow chuckled low in his throat, Ichigo liked when he laughed it was calming – wait he _liked?_ No, no way in hell did he like a single thing about the blue haired bastard.

Ichigo shook his head vigorously and Tez bumped his head into Ichigo's knee.

"Hungry huh? Seems I always come home and you need to eat." Ichigo set the spatula aside and grabbed the dog bowl. Digging through the cabinet beneath the sink he fetched a cup of dog food, he instructed Tez to sit and wait while his hand retreated from the bowl. Ichigo snapped his fingers and the dog went for the food immediately.

"Is there anything I can help with, I feel a bit useless sitting here eye-molesting your ass." Grimmjow said bluntly.

"Like I said, I was cooking tonight since you so kindly paid for the food." There was anger in Ichigo's tone, he was still upset over Grimmjow paying for the groceries – he'd always be upset over that, it pissed him off that he wasn't faster. Ichigo scowled at the wall clock.

_Only eight pm? Feels long, huh. _ Ichigo turned back to the steaks and pork chops, flipping them and adding a variety of spices. Pepper, salt and Italian dressing to the pork chops. Ichigo's glands went into overdrive; he could almost drool from the enticing smell that made his stomach ache. Why didn't he eat like this every night? Oh yea, because he worked his ass off.

"Do you think the cases are connected?" Grimmjow said out of the blue, pulling Ichigo from his thoughts.

Did he think the cases were connected? There was nothing so far that really stood out to make sure that they were, but Ichigo's gut told him something was off – his gut always warned him of danger. It was sort of like a sixth sense, it'd saved Ichigo's ass multiple times too.

"There's no evidence to say they are. Just a hunch but they could be, we're going to have to look at the lines between the lines – Otherwise we can kiss our independent case goodbye." Ichigo replied with a frown.

_What was so important that Ichigo would want to keep this case to himself? Why does he have such a big problem with having more people on the case? Was he hiding something? No probably not, Ichigo's an open book and if he had anything to hide he was hiding it pretty damn well. Independence complex maybe? Does he feel like he needs to prove something to someone, to everyone maybe? Hmm. _ Grimmjow took a swig of his beer that was now room temperature.

"There's no evidence as of now, but if there's another murder do you think it'll be a third killer or one of our cases right now would match to that case? What if they all have just one similarity and we're missing it." Grimmjow voiced his thoughts, not meaning for a reply.

"Right now, anything's possible. I just hope there are no more murders – Ryan and Rosilin were good people, barely old enough to be adults." There was an unmistakable sadness that accented Ichigo's words – it tugged at Grimmjow's chest.

"No good deed goes unpunished, ja?"

"No you speak German?" Ichigo asked with a small hidden smile, one Grimmjow wasn't meant to have seen, but he'd seen it anyway.

"Not fluently but I know a few words here and there."

"Oh." _Oh? What was oh? Was oh a good thing, or a bad thing? Was it just a statement? _Too many questions had Grimmjow's brain in overdrive. He needed something to focus his mind, so he looked around.

When Grimmjow had first entered Ichigo's home he'd been reminded of how closed off Ichigo really was. The walls were bare, except for their dulled paint. He couldn't call the paint old, because it wasn't chipping but it was dulling from the years that had passed. The wooden floors weren't polished, not that they needed to be, but it showed that Ichigo didn't want to impress anyone.

Grimmjow had noted four other rooms in Ichigo's home, assuming one was Ichigo's bedroom and of course the one he almost walked into was the living room. Another room was probably his bathroom, unless there was an off-the-bedroom bathroom, which Grimmjow doubted. And the other room could be anything, he remembered Ichigo talking about a guest house – that was more than likely in Ichigo's backyard. Other than seeing the kitchen and the living room – Grimmjow could only come up with a few words for Ichigo's house; solitary, over-sanitary and… lonely.

The excess amount of room in the living room, from the lack of furniture – Grimmjow knew Ichigo could afford more furniture if he wanted to; obviously he was content with his living room, and its plainness. All in all, everything matched its owner. Ichigo liked solitude; he liked having things neat and from what Grimmjow had noticed Ichigo was very lonely. Even though he managed to hide it from the others, Grimmjow's heightened senses read through the façade.

Ichigo was lonely, lonelier than Grimmjow.

Ichigo set two bowls down in front of Grimmjow, one holding fruit and the other a small salad. He set another identical two bowls on the other side of Grimmjow, and then he plated the pork chops and steaks, making sure to cut off the fat and putting it in Tez's bowl.

"That's not healthy for dogs, Ichigo." Grimmjow scolded jokingly.

"Tez's a lucky mutt, besides, he rarely gets a treat and I feel bad for always being gone. If I had known beforehand I would've given him to my dad or one of my sisters."

"You could take some time off you know, you've been working your ass off from what I've been told and seen."

"I can't." Ichigo said sharply setting the plates in their respective spots, then grabbing the utensils from the drawer in front of him. Only when Ichigo was seated with a fresh beer did Grimmjow say anything more.

"Why? You aren't obligated to do anything more than what's required." Grimmjow knew he was pressing Ichigo now, knew that if he didn't back off the subject Ichigo would recoil further – that was the last thing he wanted to happen but he couldn't help himself.

Ichigo visibly tensed and then thoughtfully took a large bite of his food. He chewed and chewed and then swallowed. Grimmjow watched the muscles in Ichigo's throat as they worked, a warm heat had developed between his legs from the daily task – he'd watched people eat before, how they chewed, how they swallowed but nothing was like how Ichigo ate, it was as if Ichigo was seducing Grimmjow with the muscles in his neck and throat.

Grimmjow was way off the brought up subject, he wanted to have Ichigo – his dream had caused his startling attraction to the hothead and now he couldn't forget the way it felt. It felt so real, so warm, so wet and so wonderfully tight, gloriously tight. Before Grimmjow knew it he was a wound up jack-in-the-box and his 'jack-in-the-box' was threatening to spring out.

"You wouldn't understand, nobody would." There it was, the distance Ichigo had placed around himself so no one could hurt him. Ichigo had closed himself off from the topic and Grimmjow wasn't about to upset the orangette by pressing further into the subject, when Ichigo was ready to tell him, he would.

He'd just have to wait and be patient, patience is key after all. Patience is something Grimmjow had a lot of, he could manage this.

Grimmjow smiled inwardly and started eating.

**XXX**

After their dinner Grimmjow washed the dishes while Ichigo took a quick shower and set up camp for the night – if they were going to get anything done tonight they were going to have a long night. They ran over the same notes they had gone over multiple times in the past two days, nothing jumped out at them.

They threw together random ideas, possibilities and checked each one of them out – nothing. Each and every one of them fell through, no connection what so ever. Other than the basic similarities, whoever the killers, or killer, was he or she was very smart.

Ichigo read through the autopsy reports again and again until finally out of frustration he threw the files at the wall and held his head – he was getting a severe headache and nothing was going his way.

"Maybe we should take a small break, it's nearly three am." Grimmjow said with a yawn, he'd at some point left and changed into black sweats with no shirt. Ichigo was having a hard time focusing because of it.

"Yeah I suppose, would you like some coffee?" Ichigo said getting to his feet.

Grimmjow grunted heaving himself to his feet, his muscles and bones cracked and popped making Ichigo wince at the luxury. He hadn't been able to crack his back in what seemed like forever – it was probably for the best.

Ichigo took his silence as a yes and went to the kitchen to put on a fresh pot, he had the timer set for seven in the morning, but he needed the coffee now and there wasn't even the slightest chance he was going to get sleep. Grimmjow on the other hand, needed the sleep he looked like the dead brought back to life.

"Take a nap and I'll wake you when the coffee's done okay?"

Grimmjow looked skeptically at Ichigo but didn't resist, he made himself at home on Ichigo's couch and sooner than Ichigo returned from the kitchen he was fast asleep, his back turned towards Ichigo. His eyes trailed down Grimmjow's back, following each muscle all the way down his spine until they ended abruptly, hidden by Grimmjow's sweat pants.

Ichigo hadn't meant to stare, he hadn't meant to move closer, nor had he meant to almost reach out and touch those muscles. He did all those, except he held himself back on the last part – something screamed at him from his subconscious to run and run far. Run as fast as far as he could, right now.

He ignored the alert and turned back to the cases files. Sticky notes were scattered all around, covered by small scribbled out theories written in ink. What were they missing? What weren't they seeing?

Ichigo eyes felt heavy, the questions dulled into his dream land and he fell asleep.

**XXX**

"Ichigo. Wake up; we're going to be late." Grimmjow shook Ichigo's shoulder. He'd been asleep up until now, the smell of coffee floated through the air and he'd checked his watch. It was eight thirty in the morning, they'd fallen asleep, or well Ichigo had fallen asleep and Grimmjow had over slept.

Worst of it all, they had no leads and time had run out. _Shit._

Ichigo roused from his slumber, a small moan-like sound slipping from his lips as he stirred closer to consciousness. Grimmjow's eyes dropped to Ichigo's waist, where he noticed the straining pants.

_A wet dream? Morning wood. Oho I see. _Grimmjow slipped his hand down Ichigo's stomach and directly to the crotch of his jeans. Ichigo groaned, eyes slitting open – suddenly overly aware of his condition and what was happening he pulled his legs together, scrambling to get away.

"Good morning." Grimmjow smirked, keeping his hand where it was. Ichigo's jaw clenched and his eye twitched. No way in hell was Grimmjow going to get off that easily.

"Remove your hand from my dick." Ichigo hissed, numbly getting to his feet. Grimmjow's hand followed his movements as if they were duct taped together.

"I seem to be stuck." Grimmjow's touch flexed slightly making Ichigo suck air into his lungs harshly. A high blush planted itself on Ichigo's cheeks. He grabbed Grimmjow's wrist and removed himself from Grimmjow's grasp.

"We have to go to work, Molester." Ichigo ground out, going straight for his room and changing into his uniform. "Don't touch the kids today either, Asshole." Ichigo said as he reemerged.

Grimmjow's eyes strayed over Ichigo, noting that he was still erect, the uniform fit snuggly and if Ichigo didn't have a miracle to pull out of his hat he was going to have that obvious problem all day.

"Are you going to take care of that, or shall I?" Grimmjow watched Ichigo's face turn red – from anger or embarrassment it was beyond Grimmjow.

"It goes away on its own, coffee and the drive to work I'll be better by then. Stop starring, Asshole." Ichigo snapped making his way towards the kitchen. Grimmjow heard the small rustles of cups as they were set on the counter and then the clink of the coffee pot pouring its contents into each cup.

Grimmjow went to the bathroom – he'd taken a moment to shower and shave the stubble from his face then changed into his uniform and joined Ichigo in the kitchen.

***.***

"What's for breakfast?" Ichigo listened to Grimmjow as he walked into the kitchen.

"Air, for you." He himself was going to have a pop tart, finish his coffee and get on the road. As it was, they were both going to be late and Ichigo didn't have time to make anything for himself – not that he usually did.

"Are you really that upset that I touched your junk?" Grimmjow teased.

_Yes. _"No." Ichigo mumbled, drinking his coffee. _ I didn't mind when you touched me. _ "I'd rather not be molested by my co-worker."

_You didn't make any move to continue. _ "I don't do work relationships, too much to risk."

"You don't do relationships at all, what are you talking about." Grimmjow stated flatly.

"I have my reasons." Ichigo felt the need to defend himself further, but knew that'd open too many windows for him to get cornered. Grimmjow was too smart, and it was too early for him to control the conversation so that he didn't end up in deep shit.

"Which are?"

"None of your business."

"Stingy."

"Yep, now finish your coffee so we can leave." Ichigo said with finality. He returned to the living room, memory of this morning making his gut ache. There was no use fretting over it, it wouldn't happen again – ever. Ichigo gathered the papers, fitting as much as he could into his bag along with his laptop. With the remains he rubber-banded them together and tucked them under his arm.

He felt the strain in his pants easing and he was rather pleased with the caffeine's fast action to his groin. Feeling better than he had ten minutes ago he went back to the kitchen, fed Tez and waited for Grimmjow to finish his coffee.

When he'd finished Ichigo quickly shooed him from his house and then locked up, they drove separately since Grimmjow was going home after work and Ichigo was going home along – they'd fall back into routine and next time they were going to work together, he'd invite someone else along with. Yes, that'd solve any problems he had if Grimmjow made a pass at him.

**XXX**

Grimmjow and Ichigo parked in the above ground parking lot today, they wanted to impress the children with their cars. Ichigo knew Grimmjow's car would be getting more attention, but it wasn't as if his car wouldn't draw a few eyes. He'd even gotten a quick haircut on his way to work, it was irresponsible since he was late to work but he needed a haircut and he didn't want to lower the children's standards of an officer of the law.

He felt like a different man today, like everything bad about him and his past had suddenly vanished. Gone just like that, on a note it was worrisome but on another it was the biggest relief. Ichigo could breathe clearly and smile like he was a kid again, well not a kid but like he hadn't seen what he'd seen. And he'd seen quite a lot.

Ichigo opened the front door, rarely used and foreign to him, he went through the small security check scanning his badge and continuing towards the stairs next to the elevator. Officers walking past stopped to stare, some greeted him, but others were so stunned that all they could do was stand and look like a guppy with their mouths opening and closing the way they were. Ichigo couldn't help but smile wider, out of amusement.

He waited for the bus to pull up to the building and when it did he could see the small excited faces peeking from the windows – innocence, what a joy.

"Good morning Detective Kurosaki." A voice came from behind him, Ichigo turned to see Owen standing with another pink doughnut box in hand, a signing sheet in the other.

No not even Owen could ruin how great Ichigo felt, nothing but happiness came from Ichigo, oozing. He signed the sheet and waved as Owen left, an odd expression on his face. Ichigo held the box in one hand and watched the children line up outside the bus. He was going to make sure they had the best day of their lives.

They shuffled into the building, excitedly hopping and bouncing around. A small boy with red hair stood out to Ichigo.

"Isn't that the kid from last night?" Grimmjow had appeared at Ichigo's side. Ahh, that's what was familiar about the kid. Box in hand he went over and greeted the teachers and then when Taiga's attention dropped onto him the kid lit up.

"You're that officer from last night!" Taiga beamed proudly, he knew Ichigo and Grimmjow – any kid would be excited they could one up the others.

"Yes, I am, Taiga. I'm Detective Kurosaki, and this is my Partner Detective Jaggerjaquez. We'll be showing you and your classmates around for a bit of the morning, and then we have to get back to work." Ichigo said professionally. If there was ever a moment in his life that could make him feel happier, it had to have been someone so much bigger than this moment now.

***.***

Grimmjow watched as Ichigo talked quietly to the redheaded boy from last night. He hadn't ever seen Ichigo so happy, so at peace. He was another person when he was around kids – what had changed from yesterday to today? Hell from last week to today?

Grimmjow's ears cocked at the sound of a repeated tick. _Tick, tick, tick. _The sound repeated, over and over.

"What's that sound, Mr. Kurosaki?" Taiga asked, Ichigo had noticed the noise by now too. He was looking around for where the noise was coming from. At the same time Grimmjow's eyes landed on the pink box in his grasp, Ichigo paled.

"It's just a loud clock, Grimmjow why don't you take the kids and show them the weight and training room." Ichigo said it calmly trying not to alarm anyone.

The other Detectives had joined them, ignoring their jobs for the children. Grimmjow watched as each one of them straightened, knowing what was going on, none of them made a move to alert anyone. Panic was the last thing they needed right now.

***.***

Ichigo headed in a quickened walk towards the door, unaware of the straggler that had followed him. He was going to find the trash can, throw the box in and run like hell. That's what he first thought and then a tug at his pants made him drop the box in shock; he didn't know what would happen. So his survival instincts went into hyper drive and he acted without thought.

"Bomb! Everyone get down!" Ichigo yelled, whirling around and grabbing the kid. Taiga, he recognized, had followed him curiously. Ichigo had about four seconds before the blast went off, he tucked himself around the child as he was thrown into the glass doors of the building.

Pain erupted from his spine unlike no other, he could feel the warmth seeping into his clothes, feel the small body quaking beneath him. His ears rung, he could barely hear the screams and wails of sirens around him. Taiga had pulled himself out from Ichigo's weight and from what Ichigo could see through squinted eyes he was unharmed, except for a small scratch above his eye.

He would've never made it had Ichigo not been there to cover him. Thank god he was there, shielding the innocent child from harm.

"Mr. K-kurosaki? Hey, mister you have to get up." Taiga was crying now, tears and blood fell onto Ichigo's face. He knew he had to get up, had to assess the situation, but he couldn't move. He could feel the pain radiating all over. Every shift made the air catch in his throat and then dissipate.

Ichigo lifted his neck slightly, and almost went into shock at the sight. His leg was broken, and a large shard of glass stuck into his upper thigh. Grabbing the glass his fingers shook as he tried to pull it out. A loud animal-like scream pierced the air as he ripped the glass from his leg.

_Who's screaming? Who else is hurt? _Ichigo's brain took a moment to realize, no one else was hurt except him. That scream, was his own.

Taiga wrapped his arms tightly around Ichigo's arm, tugging at him to get up. Screaming, pleading, wailing for Ichigo to get up, to move.

A blur and then all was silent. Taiga was gone from his reached and coldness seeped into his fingers and toes. His head throbbed as he gasped for air, his chest constricted and he started choking. Blood was filling his lungs. And then he saw blue, bright blue and felt the warmth of a hand against his cheek. Caressing the aging bruises.

"Ichigo, stay with me. We've called an ambulance; they'll be here in five minutes. Ichigo? Ichigo?!" Grimmjow's calm voice became frantic, concern and worry etched into his features.

_What's wrong with you Smurf? What are you …crying for, you aren't hurt. _ Ichigo lifted his right arm; although painful he managed to lift it to Grimmjow's cheek.

"_Taiga… where is … Taiga? H-hurt?" _Ichigo didn't recognize the croaking voice, it sounded weak and strained. Was that his voice? A coughing fit seized his muscles and train of thought then, making his body spasm. Grimmjow held him tightly turning him onto his side.

***.***

He didn't have a moment to spare; his gaze flickered over the crowds of panicked people. Officers were down all over the place, but none hurt – his gaze locked onto a screaming redheaded child, pulling on a severely bleeding man. And his heart stopped at the scream that shattered the reality of the situation. Orange hair alerted him of the person and he shot into action. Dodging people, yelling into his phone for an ambulance.

He pulled Taiga from Ichigo's downed form, noticing the amount of blood around Ichigo he released Taiga into Nnoitra's hands. Grimmjow crashed down on his knees beside Ichigo. Glass broke under his feet and knees.

Grimmjow fought back tears, his Partner, just minutes ago smiling like a child with candy, was bleeding out on the floor. Crying children were being shuffled into the stairwell and taken to the higher floors, no one had been seriously injured; others were up with cuts and scrapes, some limping but none in serious need of assistance – except Ichigo. The floor was scattered with broken metal, shattered glass, and Ichigo's blood.

There was so much blood. Grimmjow looked at the bone sticking out from Ichigo's pant leg; Ichigo was deathly pale, and shaking. He'd touched Grimmjow's cheek and Grimmjow could feel the small streak of blood.

When Ichigo's fit resided Grimmjow fixed him, resting Ichigo's head – careful of the neck – on his upper thigh. Ichigo's throat and chest worked overtime, laboring in enough air to keep him somewhat conscious a few times Ichigo had stopped breathing, but then just as quickly started. He was fighting.

"_Taiga… where is … Taiga? H-hurt?" _Grimmjow's chest constricted.

"Taiga's alright, you saved him Ichigo. He's going to be alright. Shh, don't talk. We're getting you an ambulance, stay with me. Ichigo." Grimmjow ignored the way his voice was shaking. Renji, Chad, Gin, Starrk and Ulquiorra all stood close by, watching, waiting.

Ichigo's body tightened and enormous pain flickered across his face, and then he smiled.

"_W-what are you crying for… molesting jackass." _Ichigo coughed up blood, and it plastered Grimmjow's uniform and chin. And then all too soon, Ichigo reached up again and another streak painted itself sloppily onto Grimmjow's cheek. Even when he was almost dead, Ichigo was trying to comfort someone else. "_I'm sorry; I won't be able …to… solve the case…"_

Grimmjow's eyes flooded with tears as Ichigo's body went slack in his arms; he could hear the loud sirens of the ambulance and fire trucks. Feel the arms tugging Grimmjow away from Ichigo's body; he went willingly, tears fuddling his eyesight.

"Shit!" Grimmjow choked into a scream. Renji and Chad had pulled him from Ichigo, letting the medics get to his aid. At the moment, he'd been so unaware, he should've acted sooner – faster, could've stopped this from happening. He felt so cold, empty – lost. He hadn't done anything to save Ichigo, he was…

_Too late._


	5. Chapter 5

Death wasn't supposed to be like this, he couldn't describe it but he was sure it wasn't supposed to be anything near what this was. What this was was nothing. He seemed to be hovering, looking down, and watching his body and other medics over his stiff figure. They checked his pulse, wrote something down and then covered his body with a white sheet. There was a scream, a sob, more tense yelling.

It wasn't his; he knew already whose it was. Grimmjow Jaggerjaquez, his partner of five days. Ironic how you could start to like someone and then lose your chance to really get to know them just like that. He had no one else to blame but himself.

Ichigo kept waiting for the lights to go out, for his sense of consciousness to shut down. He kept waiting for the nothing to envelope him, though he wondered how he'd know, since only consciousness could comprehend the lack of consciousness and self. But his thoughts remained, his sense of self remained, and it was all very confusing.

So maybe there was no nothing, maybe there was something. Maybe death really was more of a passing than an end. Well, if that were true, wouldn't he be someone else now? Or would he always be herself, just somewhere and someone else.

In that case, wasn't there supposed to be some sort of tunnel, with a bright light at the end of it, and people who had loved him and were already dead should be waiting to greet him, right? He'd seen darkness and nothing more, until now – he hadn't been hovering before, he'd been in enormous amount of pain. There was no tunnel, no line of people waiting to greet him, and he began to get agitated.

"Where is everyone?" He asked irritably, the sound curiously flat, as if he hadn't really spoken and hadn't really heard anything. This didn't make sense. If he existed, then he had to exist somewhere, and he didn't seem to be anywhere. There was nothing around him, nothing and no one.

If death turned out to be a lack of being rather than a lock of consciousness, well, then, that sucked.

"Where _am _I?" he snapped, unable to control his annoyance.

"You're here," a man's voice said, and abruptly Ichigo _was _there, in an actual place, though he had no idea where that place was. He stood on a green lawn, with fragrant grass soft beneath Ichigo's feet. The air was rich with the scents of spring, and at such a perfect temperature that it was neither warm nor chilly, but was almost indecipherable. He could hear the drone of bees, and see a bright kaleidoscope of flowers, huge beds of flowers, dotting the landscape. There were trees and a blue sky with big white puffy clouds floating with the sun. There were buildings gleaming whitely in an indefinable distance. He saw all of that, and the absolute harmony of it was so beautiful it almost hurt to look around him. What he didn't see, despite the voice he'd heard, were other people.

"I can't see you," he said.

"Ah, give it a moment. You came very fast. Give time a second to catch up." With that, a man came into view. Almost knocking Ichigo on his ass. He was about Ichigo's age, his hair a darkened brown and his eyes so familiar Ichigo couldn't breathe, was he breathing before?

_Kago._

"Kago?" His voice felt weak, weaker.

"Yes Ichigo, I can see how well you're doing so I won't ask that. What I can ask though is why are you so sad?" The same suspicion relayed in Kago's tone, telling Ichigo that he had no real reason for the guilt that weighed so heavily on his heart.

Ichigo remained silent a moment longer, and then suddenly other people began appearing, some of them there with him, others walking around and going on about their own business. Three more people joined him and Kago, standing in a loose circle around him. Were they real, or was his dying brain hallucinating? He didn't know if he himself was real anymore. He touched himself, to see if he still had any substance or if all he had left was a sort of cellular memory of what he had been. To his surprise, thought his sense of touch felt oddly off, he seemed to retain a physical body.

Another strange thing was the almost physical sense of… of peace; that was the only word that came to mind. Peace. He began to feel soothed and comforted, and _safe._

Gradually he noticed something about the small group of people surrounding him. They all seemed to be his age, roughly twenty-five, all fit and healthy, all of them attractive. His eye could make the distinction between attractive and unattractive, but his mind couldn't. But his eyes didn't operate independently of his brain, did they? His brain, then, still had the ability to understand the difference between beauty and ugliness. Was his mind, then, somehow a thing separate from his brain? He had always thought mind and brain were the same thing, but… they weren't.

Another thing. When he looked at these people, he could sense what they had been before, and that was confusing as all hell because some of them hadn't been the same sex they were now. Kago, who had spoken first, was the least confusing, because his image was somehow more solid, less blurred by the overlay of recent carnation. Was it because Ichigo had known Kago in life that it was this way, or was it something completely different?

Ichigo focused on him, because that gave his mind and eyes a rest. He was tired, and dealing with conflicting layers was more than he could handle right now.

"You seem them," Kago said, faint surprise in his tone, and by "them" he didn't mean just the other people, but all their other layers of existence.

"Yeah," said Ichigo. There was a wealth of communication going on here, things understood beyond what was actually said.

"Like always, you're very observant, Ichigo."

He had to be, as a detective it was part of his job. All his life he'd watched and studied, later, when he was older he'd studied people more deliberately. How they reacted under pressure, what habit they had when they lied, their daily routine – everyone had a quirk and Ichigo had made it a game to find it.

"Why is he here?" A woman asked, not in a nasty one but in true puzzlement. "He shouldn't be here. Look at him."

Ichigo looked down at himself, he saw his broken leg, the wound on his upper leg – though not bleeding anymore it still looked horrifying. The details were kind of vague, but he knew they were there – had seen them there when he was alive. Or, was he seeing the stains of his life layered over him the same way he saw the others lives? The details of his life reeled through his mind and he saw them as a film of dirt overlying everything he was and did. Anger flared; he'd done the best he could to survive, and if she – the woman – didn't like it –

Just as abruptly as it had flared, his anger dwindled and was replaced by a wash of guilt. He'd never done the best he could do; he shot and killed his partner because he posed a threat to his own life. He hadn't aimed for a leg or an arm; he'd gone straight for the kill – no second thoughts. Revulsion hit him like a tidal wave and this time, it took a moment to recognize that he was no longer standing – he'd literally fallen to his knees from the guilt.

Ichigo looked squarely at the woman, reading her. She'd been an undertaker, he saw; she'd made a living from death, helping families through the grieving process by walking them through the traditional steps. She'd seen everything; she'd prepared bodies ranging in age from babies to the very old. She'd taken care of people whom hundreds had loved and mourned, and those no one had mourned. Death held no surprises to her, and no fear. Death was part of the natural order of things.

Because she'd seen so much, she'd long ago lost any blinders she might have had. She saw people as they were, not as they wished they had been.

She saw what he was, and she knew he was worthless. _Worthless. _He had no excuses, no defense. He bowed his head, accepting that he shouldn't be in this place of peace. He didn't deserve it. Everything he'd ever done, everything he'd touched, was poisoned – tainted.

"You are not worthless Ichigo; you're very much worth the friend you were to me." Kago reassured Ichigo, somehow his thoughts had been read or maybe those thoughts had voiced themselves. Ichigo hadn't a clue.

"You have a deep love for Kago, for me, for who I used to be, Ichigo Kurosaki. I was a murderer and still you grieved and mourned over my loss. That's loyalty no one can replace." Kago, the angel, said a smile holding the deepest respect – the respect Ichigo deserved none of. Or thought he had deserved none of. He couldn't help but accept the forgiveness, if he were alive his bullheadedness would've come into play and he would've rejected the very thought but he wasn't and he didn't.

Ichigo couldn't help the smile that was placed on his face, a boyish whimper came from his throat and relief flooded into his veins – if that was what he had anymore – his mind was at peace. Utter tranquility.

"Loyalty this deep, love this vibrant deserves a second chance. I stand as witness." Kago said with finality in his tone.

"I say yes," said the woman who had been the undertaker. "There was and is love, he wears it still. I stand as witness."

"And I," said another woman, another pang in his heart, it was his mother. She was as he remembered her, except she held a glow in her eyes now – one that made Ichigo miss her more. "I stand as witness. My son, Kago's dedicated Partner, deserves a second chance."

Of the four people surrounding him, one thought there was no point in giving him a second chance, but even that one was free of any sense of malice. He simply thought he didn't belong here. Ichigo didn't resent him, because there was no room for resentment here even thought there was evidently room for disagreement.

Kago stood there for a moment, his face lifted slightly to the sky, his eyes half closed as if he were listening to some song only he could hear. Then he smiled and turned to Ichigo. "Your dedication, the purest form of loyalty, has saved you," he said. He touched Ichigo's hand, the hand Ichigo once thought tainted everything it touched. "You've earned a second chance," he said. "Now return, and don't waste it."

**XXX**

The Medics were packing up their bags because there was nothing they could do, nothing that could have been done even if they'd been there when the accident happened. Blue and red and yellow lights strobed the outside of the building, flooding inside sometimes. People were talking, radios were crackling, and the rumble of sobs gave a bass underlay to all the other sounds. Still, one Medic stalled, he'd heard something strange, something that made him stop and cock his head, listening.

Another gasp, a choke. The medic turned, wide eyed back to the body covered by the white sheet. The chest area of the blanket lifted ever so slightly.

"Shit!" He said explosively, when his brain finally clicked. He couldn't move for all but two seconds before he was yelling at the other medics to bring the stretcher back. Medics rushed about him, as he pulled the blanket from the orange haired man's face.

"What's going on?" The medic heard from the other detectives that had sat against the wall. The blue haired man, who had been sobbing earlier was now fully alert and his expression held a heavy amount of hope.

"He's alive, I don't know how but the lucky bastard's alive!" The medic said before shooing them away and getting back to his job. As soon as they had the downed detective in the back of the emergency vehicle, the man was right there – getting into the back of the ambulance. Without a single word, they closed the doors and took off for the hospital.

**XXX**

Ichigo swam in and out of consciousness. He preferred "out", because then he wasn't aware of the pain. The pain was a bitch. It was the biggest bitch he'd ever tackled, and most of the time it kicked his ass. There were times, when the drugs were either wearing off enough to let him think but still keep the pain somewhat at bay, or when the drugs were taking hold with exactly the same result, when he knew that this was the price he had to pay for the second chance. There was no magic healing, no easy trip back to the land of the living. He had to grin and bear it, though there was no grinning and an awful lot of bearing.

He remembered, with a clarity even the drugs couldn't affect, every moment of what had happened after he died. Real time, though, was more hazy. Sometimes he would hear the nurses talking to him, he could hear his family talking to him about their day or that they missed him, surprisingly a lot of his co-workers showed up or sent flowers, unsurprisingly all the detectives visited once a week. Not on the same day, but they each took a day, and talked with him – about the case, everything they'd come upon.

It wasn't just Grimmjow and his case anymore, but he didn't much care as long as the case didn't go cold. He rarely remembered the details, but when he did they were there for all but a day and then gone the next.

He had no sense of time, of what day it was, or anything beyond the bed he was on and the unceasing battle he fought with the Great bitch of pain. Of course, there came a time – way too soon, by his way of thinking – when his surgeon ordered a decrease in the drugs. He wasn't the one in agony so what did he care? He was the one wielding the scalpel, not the one on the receiving end. Ichigo had only a vague idea which of her visitors was the surgeon, but as his mind began clearing he memorized some particularly salty things he wanted to say to his surgeon. Okay, so he'd done surgery on his leg, stitched his leg close, and done multiple things to his head, but cutting Ichigo's drugs in half? Bastard.

If everything he'd seen and experienced was supposed to make him sweet and forbearing now that he had a second chance, he'd already failed that test. He didn't feel at all sweet _or _forbearing. He felt like someone who'd had his leg reset and his head knocked in and his thigh stabbed repeatedly every day.

As he gradually left the drug-induced fog, for a while he couldn't think of anything except the Great bitch and how he could get through the next hour, because without the full power of drugs he and the Bitch were constant companions. By then the nurses were getting him out of bed a couple of times a day, moving him to a chair so he could sit up – yeah, as if the hospital bed wouldn't crank to a sitting position and he wouldn't have to choke back the screams of agony every move brought. All they had to do was press a button and the head of the bed would raise and, hell, he could just lie there and ride it like a wave.

But no, he had to get up. He had to walk, if what he did could be called walking. He called it the, stagger limp, while his right leg was broke his left leg had a couple healing stitches in the upper thigh so he sort of hopped, wobbled and leaned on the nurses who could barely keep him upright.

Once during his therapy session, Grimmjow had shown up and Ichigo leaned on him then, Grimmjow had pushed him further than what the nurses had and Ichigo resented him every painful step. Ichigo wanted to stop and cry, but his pride held back the tears and Grimmjow kept him going.

When he was conscious, his brain never stopped working – slowly, perhaps, but it still worked. After the surgeon began weaning him off the drugs, he felt as if his head was teeming with thoughts, more thoughts than his skull could hold. At first the lack of connection between his brain and his tongue bothered him, but as his thoughts gradually cleared he realized that the cause of his silence wasn't brain damage, it was a sort of information overload. Until he had things sorted out for himself, this verbal short-circuit was his mind's way of protecting him.

After a couple weeks, he'd remembered everything he'd once forgotten. The case's details, what had been updated to him and what he'd known before. Who he was, that was the scariest part about when he first woke – he didn't remember who he was. Had his silence inadvertently done him a favor?

In his mind he drifted between that world and this one. He didn't want to leave that world, and he sure didn't want to be in this one, with his constant companion, the Great bitch. His second chance wasn't really at this life, it was a second chance to earn _that _life. If he wanted that, then he had to do _this._

It came down to good decisions and bad decisions, he thought as he drifted. Bad decisions were everywhere. Making one was easy, like picking fruit off the ground. The good decisions were mostly the ones that were difficult, like climbing a tree to get to the fruit at the very top. Yes sometimes the good decision was right there, lying on the ground in front of him, and all he'd have had to do was bend over and pick it up. But instead, he'd looked around and picked a bad decision – sometimes even going out of his way to get it. That was how wrong-headed he'd been.

Making good decisions didn't mean being a saint. That was lucky, because even with his knowledge he didn't think he could ever reach _that _level. In fact, he was beginning to feel cranky about this whole business. Okay, he'd try. He'd try like hell, which maybe was a bad analogy, but he wanted to go back to that place, he wanted to see Kago again. He wasn't his co-worker nor was he his best friend there, he understood that, but for too short a while they had shared the closest of connections. Trusting one with the others life.

His thoughts were interrupted time and again by the hospital staff, who were growing more and more perturbed by his lack of speech. The nurses constantly asked him questions, talked to him, and even gave him a notebook and pen to see if he could write. He could, but he didn't. He had no desire to write anything, just as he had no desire to speak. He simply stared at the pen in his hand until they gave up and took it away.

The surgeon, again whom he still held a big grudge, shone a bright light in his eyes and asked questions, none of which he answered. He didn't even punch him while he was that close, though he thought about it.

The surgeon called in a neurologist. They did an EEG on him and discovered his synapses, or whatever, were firing wildly. They did a brain scan, looking for damage that would explain his loss of speech. They discussed him, standing right outside his cubicle, as if the sliding glass door wasn't open and he couldn't hear every word.

"The medics made a mistake," the neurologist said flatly. "He couldn't have been dead. If he'd been without oxygen that long, he would, at the least, have significant brain damage. Even allowing for the most extreme variable, and we're both seen cases like that, if he had no heartbeat and no oxygen for an estimated _hour,_ for God's sake, there's no way he could come through without any brain damage at all. I don't see anything that would explain his lack of speech. Maybe he couldn't speak before; maybe he's deaf. Have you tried ASL?"

"If he were deaf, he'd be using sign language himself, trying to communicate," the surgeon said drily. "He doesn't. He doesn't use another language, he doesn't try to write or draw pictures or even indicate he hears us. If I had to compare it to something, I'd say this complete lack of communication is symptomatic of autism, which I know he doesn't have – we've checked his medical records. His family and friends say he's capable of speaking and he's fluent with English. There was no damage of his vocal cords. He understands what we say. He cooperates. He just doesn't _communicate._ There had to be a reason."

"Not that I can see." He heard the neurologist heave a sigh. " The way he looks at people… it's almost as if we're another life form and he's studying us. We don't try to communicate with bacteria. It's like that."

"Right. He thinks we're bacteria."

"He wouldn't be the first patient to feel that way. Look, my recommendation is you call in a psychologist. What happened to him was traumatic, even by our standards. He may need help getting over it."

Traumatic? Had it been? What had come before had been traumatic as hell, but his actual death… no. He couldn't remember his leg breaking. He knew it happened, had that hazy memory of seeing himself, but all in all he was glad he'd died, because otherwise he wouldn't have seen Kago, he wouldn't have known that wonderful place existed, that there was something else waiting out there. This life wasn't all there was; there was more, much more, and when people spoke of death as "passing" they were exactly right, because the spirit passed on to that other level of existence. Knowing that was the most comforting thing he could imagine.

So a psychologist, Dr. Greg Dreak, came several times to talk to him. He was a handsome man, but there was trouble in his marriage and he was truly more concerned with that than he was about any of his patients. Ichigo thought Dr. Greg should take some time off and concentrate on what was important, because he loved his wife and she loved him, and they had two kids to consider, so they should really get their shit together and work things out, and then Dr. Greg would be able to give his full attention to his patients.

If he'd been talking, that's what he would have said. But he felt no compulsion to answer Dr. Greg's questions, at least not now. He still had some thinking to do.

For instance: where was the note? The note that he'd held onto when he dropped the box, he hadn't remembered grabbing it until a few days ago and now he really wanted to know what it said in it. Where was it now? Who had it now? Did they throw it away? The thought depressed Ichigo, he was curious – really curious.

The day came when he was transferred from ICU to a regular hospital room. As his nurses got him ready for transport, removing tubes, chattering to him, telling him how great he was going and that they'd miss him, suddenly he focused on one nurse in particular. Her name was Georgie, and she was the nicest of the nursing squad, but she was invariably quiet and unhurried, and her concern was evident in her touch.

Georgie was going to fall. Ichigo saw it happen. Not clearly, the surroundings were fuzzy,,, but he say it. Georgie was going to fall down some stairs… concrete stairs, like the stairs in a hotel or in a… hospital. Yes. Georgie was going to fall down the stairs here in the hospital. She would break her ankle, and that would be a bitch because she had a three-year-old boy who could run at the speed of light.

He reached out and caught Georgie's hand, the first time he had initiated any interaction with anyone at all. The nurses looked at him in surprise.

He wet his lips, because after all this time he had almost forgotten how to form words, the connection tenuous between his mind and his mouth. But he had to warn Georgie, so he pushed harder and finally the words actually happened.

"_Don't… take… the… stairs… Georgie," _said Ichigo, his voice sounded deeper and startled everyone including himself.

**XXX**

"I hear you've been talking."

The words came from the foot of his bed. Ichigo opened his eyes, and hovered for a moment between asleep and awake, reality and… other reality. His perception of time, space, and what was real had been radically altered, the defining lines gone. Maybe with time, and once he no longer needed any painkillers at all, he would regain the sharpness of _now, _though he didn't want to lose his sense of connection to the other place.

In the _now _he had to deal with the surgeon, Dr. Quinn, who was sprawling in a chair a couple of feet from the foot of his bed. His arms, big and muscular and hairy, wee revealed by the short sleeves of his scrubs – and they were crossed over his chest, telling him he was feeling stubborn and in the mood for answers.

He ignored him for the moment, his gaze drifting to the windows. Sunlight poured through the glazed reflective glass, which made the sky look as though a thunderstorm were forming but gave him both sunlight and privacy. It was nice to have an actual room, to see the progression of sunlight to darkness, nice to have a little more privacy even thought the nurses had the extremely annoying habit of leaving the door open. Someday soon he'd tell them to close it.

But not now. Not today. Telling them would require talking, and he couldn't bring the words up. Speaking to Georgie had been driven by need, and the effort had exhausted him. Answering the surgeon's questions didn't meet that level of need.

Besides, he'd cut down on his drugs while he still needed help battling the Great bitch. Let him stew.

"You might be interested in what happened to Georgie," the surgeon said calmly.

Was he? He thought for a moment and decided that, yes, he was. He'd cared enough to speak, cared enough to make the words travel from his brain to his mouth, across an empty no-man's-land. Slowly he brought his gaze back to the man in scrubs.

Despite his callousness with the drugs, Ichigo liked him. He had a calling, and he was ruthless about answering that call. He went into battle every day, plunging his hands into bloody body cavities and working to help people live, then doing what he had to do get them back on their feet. So he would have liked a couple more days of help fighting the pain; weighed in the balance, he would rather have pain than develop a drug dependency. Maybe he'd forgive the surgeon.

On the other hand, he really needed to stop screwing around on his wife.

"Georgie took the stairs anyway," he said, his sharp gaze watching him closely. "But she said she felt uneasy about what you said, so she was extra careful. She kept an eye out for anyone who might be hiding in the stairwell, and she held on to the stair railing. She usually runs down the stairs, but this time she held on to that railing. She was on the third flight when she slipped. If you hadn't warned her, if she hadn't been holding on, she'd have gone to the bottom of the flight and could have been really hurt. As it is, all she has is a mild ankle sprain."

That had worked out, then. Good.

The surgeon was silent a few minutes; Ichigo guessed to give him a chance to talk if he were so inclined. He wasn't.

Giving up on that tactic, he uncrossed his arms and leaned forward, watching him intently. He opened his mouth to speak, closed it again and rubbed his hand over his jaw. Ichigo watched him with faint puzzlement. He acted as if he was perturbed by something; surely he wasn't that upset because she hadn't made this huge breakthrough in speech.

"What was it like?" He finally asked, his tone suddenly hushed, a little unsure.

Ichigo's mouth almost fell open. He blinked at the man in scrubs in astonishment and a tide of red washed into the man's face. "Never mind," he muttered, getting to his feet.

Was he asking about the other place? Surely he wasn't crass enough to ask what it was like to have a bomb explode and be sailed through the air and then have your leg broken and whatever else had gone wrong – Ichigo still didn't have the full details. Besides, he was a surgeon; traumatic injuries would be nothing new to him.

He _knew_ Ichigo had been dead, that the medics hadn't made a mistake. Yet here he was, a living, breathing, walking – well, sometimes, when they made him – miracle, and what he'd said to Georgie had somehow tipped him off that he'd been to that other place. Maybe he'd seen it before. Maybe another patient had told him about it, and he was curious. Maybe he wanted him to say that he didn't remember anything, so he could put his trust completely in science, where he felt most comfortable.

He lifted his hand to keep him from walking out the door, and a beatific smile lit his face. "Beautiful," he managed to say, the single word taking so much effort that Ichigo felt winded.

The surgeon stopped in his tracks. Swallowing, he came to stand beside his bed.

"What do you remember? Can you tell me?"

He looked torn, as if he wanted to hear something that would allow him to disregard what he said as an oxygen-deprived brain producing hallucinations, but at the same time he wanted to believe in something more.

He needed to talk. He needed to get through this barrier, once more make the connection between the world inside his head and the world on the outside. The breach had been helpful, giving him the time he needed to adjust, but now it was time for him to fully rejoin this world, because it was the only world he had.

With that thought, his surroundings suddenly popped into sharper focus, as if everything had been blurred while he lingered between both places. Ichigo had made the final decision to stay, he realized. Until now, he had been in a limbo of sorts, lingering there while he thought things over, but now he had decided: he would stay here, and try to earn himself a place in that other world.

Talking suddenly became easier, a mission possible, even though it was still an effort.

"I remember everything."

They talked for hours about what Ichigo had seen, they contemplated the weaknesses of his short stories – he hadn't told the surgeon everything, but Ichigo had added when the surgeon looked at him doubtfully 'If you don't believe me, fine. But if you want to know more, you have to trust that I'm telling the truth.' The man had straightened in his seat, the threat remaining in the air even as they spoke now. One hint of doubt and Ichigo would shut the man out, again.

When the surgeon stood to leave, Ichigo said, "Stop screwing around on your wife."

The surgeon paled, then turned red again. "What?"

"She's going to find out, if you don't stop." Suddenly irritated, he pulled the sheet higher, as if he wanted to shut the surgeon out. " If you don't love her, then get a divorce, but keep your pants zipped until then. Act like a grown-up."

"Wha–? What?" He said the same word for the third time, his mouth opening and closing like a guppy's

"Believe me now?" He scowled at him. He would have flounced on his side and turned his back on him, but flouncing was out of the question. Instead he just narrowed his eyes at him and silently dared him to deny his accusation, though he was more likely to tell him to mind his own business.

He could see him struggling not to do exactly that. He was in his earlier fifties, a man who had spent his entire adult life perfecting the science and the skill with which he saved lived. Like most surgeons, he had a healthy ego, which was a polite way of saying it was monstrously huge. Doing what he did required a huge helping of self-confidence, and he was accustomed to being the boss. Finding himself abruptly called on the carpet by a man whose life he saved, and who undoubtedly owed him a large amount of money for his serviced, wouldn't go down easy.

He started to snap at him. He saw it, and scowled harder at him "Don't start doubting just because I didn't see a tunnel. I guess some people do. I didn't. I had glass in my legs, metal in my shoulders I'm guessing and my leg was snapped in half like a fucking twig – everything went so fast. So sue me."

The surgeon crossed his arms again and rocked back on his heels, a man who wasn't inclined to surrender without a fight. "If you had a real near-death experience, you're supposed to be mellow and happy."

"I didn't have a 'near death' experience, I had a _death_ experience. I died," he said flatly. " I was given a second chance. So far as I know, having that second chance doesn't mean I have to fake being in a good mood. If you want to know what I remember how about this: I remember looking down, seeing myself being covered by medics – my co workers, crying. Children crying, sirens wailing."

He was so easy to read, even now, when he was trying to school his expression. His shock was evident, at least to him.

"While you're in a chatty mood, what's your name?"

"Ichigo, but you already knew that." He said promptly. "What's yours?"

"Travis. Last name?"

He had always thought fast on his feet, but all of a sudden he was drawing a blank. Nothing, absolutely nothing, came to mind. He simply couldn't come up with his last name. He stared at him, frowning. "I'm thinking," he finally said.

The surgeon's brows knitted together. "You don't remember?"

"Of course I remember. It's there. Give me a minute." It wasn't there, it was truly gone. He couldn't remember his last name. The only thing important to him, and he couldn't for the life of him remember it. What else did he still not remember?

"Ichigo," he said again, hoping for inspiration.

"You've already said that."

"Yes." What else could he say? His head started aching and finally he decided to give up, shrugging. "Maybe tomorrow."

He had his pen out, making a note on his medical records.

Immediately his attention zoomed in another direction. "I'm not brain-damaged," he charged irritably. "It's all your fault. I'm just drugged enough that I can't think, but not drugged enough that it stops me from hurting. Have you ever stopped to think how it feels, having shards or whatever taken from your body. You leg broken – snapped in half, your head smacked against the concrete? Huh? I have _staples _ in me. I feel like a legal file or something, I have so many staples in me. You could build a house with my staples. And what do you do? You _cut down on my painkillers. _You should be ashamed of yourself."

He stopped, confused by his own lack of control. He never went off on anyone like that. But Ichigo also stopped because he, the surgeon, was laughing. _Laughing._

Ichigo decided right then that the two of them could become good friends. "Sit down," he invited, "and I'll tell you more about what I know of the other place."

**XXX**

Ichigo had a natural limp now, his leg was completely healed after several months of sitting on his ass doing nothing but getting up out of the hospital bed for therapy. He and his now-natural-limp made their way across the parking lot and into the department. Officers greeted him with added excitement, wanting to kiss his ass, for god knows what reason.

His hair had grown out now, it was the same length – no it was longer than it had been the morning of the bombing. The building had been repaired and new security measures were added. He hadn't seen any of the detectives for well over a month now. Frankly Ichigo was excited to see everyone again, even Gin and Kenpachi.

Ichigo was as good as new, even better now that his back was fixed too. Yes, things were great. Ichigo even remembered about the note, it was stashed with his clothing. He had yet to read it, because he felt like everyone – detective wise, should read it all at once. It was Monday so there was a meeting to be called. Lucky for him, he wouldn't have to wait.

Ichigo had scars now, all over. His walk would never be the same, but there wasn't much he could do about it other than learn to cope. Over his left eye he bore a long jagged scar that caught many people's eyes when they looked at him – they usually followed up with a double take, and there were even some that asked him about it. He didn't mind anymore but at first, he'd been ultra sensitive with anything wrong with him. Like his limp, he learned to cope and get over that shit real fast.

Instead of taking the stairs, like he used to, he took the elevator – he didn't want to do anything immediately to strain his body, he still had a lot of strength to catch up with, and rebuild. He followed a few officers into the small cart and hummed to himself.

They got off on the third floor and Ichigo was alone for a couple moments. Until the elevator reached the seventh floor and he then got out, he said hello to the secretary – she'd dyed her hair black and cut it short, it suited her.

"I like your hair cut." He smiled when she blushed.

"Thank you, Detective Kurosaki. We're glad to see you're well and fully healed now. Welcome back." She said quickly before resuming whatever she was working on before.

Ichigo nodded and continued through the office doors, no one knew he was coming back to work today. He hadn't known until he woke up that morning, had the urge and got his ass up in time to make it. He was surprised to see everyone at their desks on time, heads snapped his direction; eyes widened, smiles bloomed all around.

"Smells like shit in here." Ichigo snarled, lying through his teeth.

The room smelled of fresh coffee and paperwork, just as Ichigo remembered. For sure his desk must have some dust on it by now; he wouldn't enjoy having to clean it off but hell he was excited to be back at work. He didn't do well being a leech of society – a few times Ichigo say fuming because there wasn't anything he could so – the nurses wouldn't let him do anything. And it sucked.

Smiles faded, and concern plastered into their faces. Dulled by the traumatic experience. Okay, so maybe it was a bad joke, but Ichigo couldn't help himself. He made his limp look a bit worse than what it was until he was in the middle of the room. Where he startled everyone by laughing.

"You dick." Renji called out, slapping him on the shoulder out of worried relief. "Welcome back, survivor."

Ichigo smiled at the name, knowing full well he deserved that title, his mean little joke was a bit much but it sure gave him a good laugh. _Survivor? _ He fought the Great bitch, so that must have couldn't for something right?

"Your leg isn't that bad is it?" Ichigo turned to see Gin with his icy-blue eyes wide open with a caring smile on his face to match. It stunned Ichigo, took him back a few paces as he reassessed their relationship – yes, they could be friends – as long as he didn't call him '_Berry-kun_'.

"No, it's actually much better. Got a few scars but what the hell you can't get out alive from a bomb explosion without a few battle scars as proof." Ichigo joked – there was no way in hell he was transferring departments. He loved this place, and the people here. And knowing Kago didn't despise him as he thought – that was the biggest relief – ever.

"I wanna see them." Ichigo's head snapped towards the corner of the room where Grimmjow sat a fox-like smirk tugging his lips up at the corners. Ichigo fought the blush from his cheeks, but lost. Not willing to back down from a challenge he narrowed his eyes at Grimmjow making sure he didn't miss the eye roll.

Ichigo tugged his shirt from his pants and made quick work with the buttons, the scars on his back were the most gruesome, even the experienced nurses shied from them. If anyone was going to be disgusted with Ichigo's appearance, better get that out of the way, pronto. A few questioning glances went from Grimmjow to Ichigo, but Ichigo only finished by shrugging the shirt off his shoulders and turning around one eighty.

"It looks nastier than what it really was. Shrapnel lodged into my back and kept dragging down when I slid on the floor – from what the surgeon told me, that is." On his back he wore two protruding jagged scars that didn't heal quite right, but they looked pretty bad ass. They made a 'V' going down his back. Ichigo's train of thought drifted off when he heard the footsteps come to a halt behind him.

"Looks like you had wings and they got ripped off." Ulquiorra tossed in his opinion. Ichigo chewed his lip, he'd seen how ugly the scars were and they'd really messed with Ichigo's head – Yuzu and Karin had started crying when they saw them, but there wasn't much he could do. They were his battle scars; he was going to live with them.

He wasn't expecting much more of a reaction so he went to put on his shirt, only to be stopped by Grimmjow's hand on his back, tracing the scars he realized. It was so surreal Ichigo could hardly comprehend the situation – even though the death experience had given him such clarity, right now everything was a tangled mess.

The sixth or was this a seventh sense since his detective gut… no never mind, his sixth sense prodded him and he quickly listened to what it was trying to tell/show him. He looked at Renji, what good timing some things had. Ichigo had planned to tell everyone – detective, chief and captain wise – about his new… enhancement, but they would doubt and now Ichigo could prove it to some.

"Renji, your six-month-old just started crawling. Rukia's going to call you and scream in your ear, so I suggest holding the phone away." Ichigo said with mild amusement as Renji jumped from the loud ringtone everyone noticed as Rukia's.

Renji's brows pulled together tightly as he answered the phone, holding it away from his ear. "Hello Sweetheart." He said cautiously watching Ichigo. The news of their child starting to crawl was screamed through the phone and everyone looked at Ichigo, some had puzzled expressions, others a complete look of 'what the actual fuck'.

Renji laughed, chatted with Rukia for awhile longer and when he got off the phone, the questions started. "Wha–?"

"I don't know. But it's pretty handy." Ichigo said with a shrug as he pulled on his shirt, suddenly he felt a little too over exposed in front of Grimmjow and wanted to get the heat of his calloused hand off the small of his back. "No Nnoitra, I'm not a fortune teller."

Nnoitra shifted where he stood, obvious discomfort.

"No I didn't just read your mind, I read your body language, you were about to ask the same question I've been asked since I started talking again in the hospital."

"Well shit, here I was about to ask if I'd get rich soon." Nnoitra confessed shoving his hands in his pockets.

"I'll let you know if I get the feeling with something." Ichigo smiled, buttoning his shirt slowly. He didn't bother to tuck the shirt back in, it'd been a pain in the ass the morning, so there was no use redoing the struggle. Irritation poked at Ichigo's mind, he could feel the familiar gaze on his backside. "Grimmjow, seriously?"

"Seriously what?" Grimmjow asked feigning stupidity.

"Stop staring at my ass." Ichigo said rather bluntly, laughter filled the room – work had been momentarily forgotten as they caught up.

The group had moved to the break room now and were each getting their fill of coffee, Ichigo for one would never take coffee for granted again. In the hospital they would only allow him one cup every two days, afraid that the caffeine would alter something in his healing process. He'd cursed those stingy nurses, despised their way of thinking about his health before his needs. Everything was going surprisingly well, the questions were easy to answer and Ichigo felt right at home, as if he had never left. That was until Ichigo slid his hand into his pocket and reminded himself of its presence and the urgency, maybe not so drastic, to read it. To finally figure out what was on the inside of those crested folds that held mysteries, for months he had to wait to read it and now it was just about time to read the note.

Half-listening to the chatter going on, he leaned forward from where he sat on the couch between Grimmjow and Starrk. His leg had started hurting; probably due to the excessive use of it today – but maybe for another reason? Was it going to rain? Well just another thing he'd have to work on outside of rehabilitation therapy. Getting used to the creaks of pain when the weather got shitty.

"Is it going to rain today?" Ichigo asked out of the blue.

"Didn't look like it, why?" Grimmjow replied watching him closely, studying his features no doubt.

"You know how breaks get when the weather gets bad. Wish I had checked the weather report I would've brought ibuprofen." Ichigo pulled the leg of his pants up and was rubbing the tender muscles slowly. The scar across his upper shin was close to gone but you could still see it. The muscle is what caught people's attentions, it was more indented and if you had the compassion it almost looked painful. It wasn't but the bone seemed to be aching like a sonofabitch.

"Isn't there a med kid in the room, always have those little packets with painkillers in 'em." Starrk said looking around. Mildly surprised Ichigo watched the other detectives get up from where they sat and look for the medical kit. _What the fuck?_

"I'll be fine without it, I have to get used to feeling like this during bad weather." Ichigo felt himself looking out the door and through the windows, where he saw a small storm cloud forming slowly. Yes it was going to rain today.

"You're just out of the hospital; you don't have to get used to shit just yet." Nnoitra said as the next surprise, maybe when he died the angels sent him back to the wrong universe. Was there more than one universe? Or … never mind, if he doesn't think too much into it he won't get a headache. He didn't want a headache right now.

"Don't baby me, I might get used to it." Ichigo said rising to his feet. His walk was a little more hobbled but he couldn't really hide anything from the others anyway. He knew where the kit was anyway so it'd be quicker if he found it for them. A thought stopped him in his tracks, why hadn't he thought of this before now?

Ichigo turned to Grimmjow, worry eating at him. He steadied his voice before he spoke, "Taiga wasn't hurt from the explosion was he? I can't remember much about the accident."

Grimmjow leaned forward, his expression taking in everything but giving away nothing. "Taiga is fine."

Just like that the worry that had grown in Ichigo's chest was gone, replaced by the feeling of complete happiness. A smile cracked over his face as he turned it upwards, hoping to stall the burning behind his eyes. No way was he crying here, he still had his pride – well most of it.

"Uh… Ichigo." Chad started.

"No I'm not crying fucker," Ichigo's voice was strained and then cracked hurting his throat. "I'm not crying."

Ichigo spun on his heel, where was that damn med kit? He took one step before knocking into someone. Down he went with a small gasp of surprise, landing hard on his ass. "Och fuck."

"Ichigo! ~" Oh_ no, shit._ Ichigo had a second to brace himself before he was suffocating between two over-large breasts. Dark green hair tickled his face when it fell in tendrils over his shoulders. He smelled jasmine perfume; he knew exactly who this was now.

"_Nelliel… can't breathe._" He stammered out, patting her softly on the back as if to say 'I-give I-give'.

Her hug tightened around his neck and he started to see black spots in his vision, he was vaguely aware of her weight being removed from him and himself being held up by his waist, a single arm keeping him close to someone. It took him a moment to register just who was holding him; Grimmjow had his arm tucked around his waist – sneaky bastard.

"It's good to see you Ichigo." Nel said with tears pooling in her eyes, Nnoitra held her the same way Grimmjow was holding him. One arm around the waist. Puzzled by the loss of information, Ichigo looked at the two – eyes traveled from Nnoitra to Nel before it clicked.

"No way, really? You two? What else have I been left out on?" Nel giggled, suddenly another pain shot up his leg. "Ouch, okay painkillers now. Catching up, later."

"Did you hurt it when you fell?" Grimmjow's mouth was pressed close to his ear now; he could feel the dampness of his breath on his earlobe that send a shiver down his spine.

"Don't know, would you let me go though? I like both my feet on the ground after having to be off them for so long." Grimmjow's arm tensed, even Ichigo knew he could've been a little gentler with his words. "Sorry, I'm grouchy from the pain. The surgeon got the brunt of my anger this is just the aftershock I suppose."

"You yelled at your surgeon?"

"The bastard decreased the amount of painkillers. What else could I do? Suck it up and bear it? Psh, fuck that my leg and back ached so badly – the nurses even made me walk, you saw them." Ichigo starred hard at the ground.

"I wouldn't call what you were doing a walk. It was more of a staggered try-not-to-fall-on-my-face jump." Grimmjow joked, his chest bouncing with laughter.

"You want me to snap your leg in half we'll see how fast you're walking perfectly fine." Ichigo snapped a fit of anger surging into his blood. He couldn't remember the last time he was this angry, surely it was only something Grimmjow could do. Damn it.

"Down kitty, I was teasing you. _Teasing._" Grimmjow re-illiterated slowly, as if oxygen-depravity made Ichigo brain dead.

"Found the kit." Renji hooted with triumph holding the metal kid above his head. He quickly pulled out a white packet of painkillers, filled a paper cup with water and handed each to Ichigo – taking the cup from him after he downed its contents.

"Thank you. Grimmjow you can let me down at any time."

"I don't want to."

"I don't care if you want to or not, put me down." Ichigo snapped elbowing him in the ribs.

"Aren't you supposed to be sweeter?" Grimmjow said cautiously. Oh so now he was going to be cautious? Ichigo really wanted to just be put down, before the beating in his chest was heard. Or the sweat in his palms was felt, or hell he was even scared something down south would wake up. The thought was ridiculous, but somewhere, somehow something between Grimmjow and Ichigo had formed. Maybe it was from the time in the hospital.

Grimmjow was there almost every day, watching him sleep. Ichigo had feigned sleeping a few times, so that he wouldn't disappoint Grimmjow by not speaking. All the detectives knew he wasn't talking, it worried all of them and they had all come to try and coax him into speaking. Each time, he could feel the disappointment they had. He hadn't cared much from the pain he was in, but he cared now.

"I died. I think that would make anyone sour. So until whoever was behind the explosion is caught I'll remain sour." Was that a pout in his voice? What the hell.

Grimmjow took what Ichigo said into consideration for all but one minute before he heft Ichigo onto his shoulder, keeping him in place by his grip on Ichigo's belt. Ichigo's ribs rubbed uncomfortably against Grimmjow's shoulder as they – well, Grimmjow, walked out of the break room. Ichigo watched the other detectives as they watched back, no one but Grimmjow knew what was going on. Suddenly Ichigo didn't want to be alone with Grimmjow – was this, anxiety?

No way, Ichigo had never been scared of Grimmjow before. Never been intimidated by anyone before, except for when he was a child – then he was intimidated by most everyone, except he didn't show it. He'd taken on anyone head first, act now think later. How he was still alive, beats him. Now that he died, he guessed Death didn't want him and threw him back. The thought kind of hurt.

"I can walk on my own Grimmjow, really I prefer it now." Ichigo mumbled, his body somewhat bouncing with each step.

"Don't worry about it. You lost a lot of weight so it's easier to carry you now." Ichigo winced at Grimmjow's word – he didn't much care for how much weight he'd lost. Nor did he like being reminded of it. Even now he was still struggling to put on the weight, the Doctor said he'd struggle for awhile – it was normal – but Ichigo wasn't used to being treated… lightly. Literally.

Apparently Grimmjow felt the shift in Ichigo and quickly tried to amend, "You're not that light though, so don't move around a lot. I don't want to drop you."

Wait, where the hell was Grimmjow taking him? What was so important Grimmjow carry Ichigo instead of letting Ichigo walk himself? Damn it, Ichigo didn't want to go anywhere – not alone with Grimmjow.

A shrill ring startled Ichigo, the ringing was coming from his pocket and he immediately recognized it at his pager. It wasn't just his pager that was going off, everyone's was. Ichigo had been saved by the meeting being called early, hallelujah.

Grimmjow set Ichigo down on his feet, making sure Ichigo was stable on his feet before releasing the orangette completely. Ichigo felt the stalling of Grimmjow's touches, it worried him, made him wonder. Why is he doing that? What's he aiming for? What does this mean? Will he stop? Grimmjow's fingertips slipped from Ichigo's arms and Ichigo felt a sense of longing mixed with wanting, it felt okay to have Grimmjow touching him like that. Like that? What was _that?_

_Get to the conference room, there's a meeting. _ Ichigo's thoughts reminded him – he whirled around, careful to watch where he was going this time and left the room without looking back.

**XXX**

Ichigo was not in the mood, he had a headache, the rain had started about an hour ago and his leg was killing him. He honestly felt that the Great bitch of pain was back, implanted in his upper shin. He didn't move for the longest time and now his back was starting to ache too. Damn it, wasn't he supposed to be 'good as new'.

This was far from 'good as new' this was close enough to 'new but used, fuck you'. Out of sheer frustration he let his head the table, he was in too much pain to focus or give a damn. There had been no more evidence to show from the seven months he was off duty – no other murder that could possibly connect the first two together. The killer, or killers, had one foot out the door already.

Another crack of thunder tumbled down from the sky, shaking the water in the glasses on the table. Thunderstorms in the winter? Was this the angels' way of saying 'you're not doing something right' or maybe something closer to 'yeah, good luck getting here buddy. If you can't get your mind off the 'Great bitch' then there's no way you're gonna get here.'

He needed to focus, needed to bring the note up, but damn if every move didn't hurt him right now he'd dance around and read the damn note out loud. What good was it to him if he didn't use this time to mention the note? _Get your ass in gear Kurosaki. _

Ichigo grunted painfully making himself sit up straight again. Scratching his temple he shifted his legs so he could get the note from his pocket. It was too quiet, apparently this was how the hours long meetings had gone during the past months when Ichigo wasn't there.

_No wonder they didn't get any further, no one's fucking talking. _ Ichigo couldn't help but feel irate, he was in pain – the painkillers either hadn't kicked in or they just weren't working. On top of it all he felt nauseous and very, very hungry. Maybe he could leave the meeting – complaining about his leg or something, and get breakfast.

_NO!_ Ichigo's conscious screamed at him. _The note. _ Oh yea. All he had to do was get the note, read the contents – see if it's important, with his luck it would just be an old receipt he'd mistaken and he'd have wasted his day. Ichigo really hoped it wasn't that, but then he didn't know what to hope for. A lead perhaps?

_Yea right. _ His conscious was being a sarcastic asshole today; he really needed a nap. And he was all over the place. _Great._

Making another louder noise of frustration, he pushed up from his chair. He'd been used to silence for the first two months after his recovery now he couldn't stand it. "Okay! I can't handle the quiet, I'm getting pissed off and restless. So while we're not going over the same goddamn evidence – chasing our fucking tails. When I was recovering, I remembered some of the bombing. Don't get your hopes up, because I could have just mistaken the matter."

Everyone waited in silence, watching him with reluctance – _God show me how happy you are to see me at least._ Ichigo shook his head and dug into his pocket and when his fingers touched the note his blood rushed to his head. Finally, he'd get to see what was under the folds – he felt like a kid at Christmas, anticipation felt great right now. For a couple minutes his fingers fumbled with the note, growing embarrassed and more frustrated when he could get it open he finally tossed it to Chief Yamamoto, with the simple explanation that his hands weren't working correctly.

"You really are a kid." Ichigo ignored the mumbled comment from Grimmjow, wasn't he excited for the news? Or was it only Ichigo?

The happiness Ichigo felt evaporated, he watched the old man read over the note, anger widening his pupils. His throat and tongue felt dry as he tried to speak, "What is it, old man?"

"How many times can the 'One who Protects' protect before that one needs to be protected them self? Where's the justice in a murderer's murder?" Ice, ice was in Ichigo's veins now. That's the only element in existence that would make sense; the damn doctor had put ice in his blood. But he felt so hot, his face felt so hot. The mixture was making his stomach flip, toss and turn; it wreaked havoc on Ichigo's breakfast. Yamamoto was still reading, how much had been in the note? "Who goes through more pain? The one who's gone or the one who got left behind…?"

Ichigo closed his eyes, halting the raging burn behind his eyes – a wicked smile made itself at home on Ichigo's lips, tugging them wide enough that they hurt. When he reopened his eyes, he saw everything with a detailed clarity. The beads of water on the outer rim of each glass.

"What the hell does any of that… mean? Ichigo? Hey man, are you alright, is your leg bothering you that much?" Renji started, making all the heads who weren't already watching him, turn to watch him.

_War. _"It means, my friend, that shit has just hit the fans." Ichigo's voice sounded distant, the pain that had buried itself since the angel's talk was now there – making up for lost time. Eating away at him. His voice sounded hostile, his breathing came in rapid successions; he was pissed. The physical pain had long since been forgotten – whoever this fucker thought he was, Ichigo would catch him and surely get his revenge. _No one_ fucked with his memory of Kago.

"Ichigo calm down." Grimmjow warned from his left. _Calm down?_

***.***

"Ichigo calm down." Grimmjow had warned only seconds before Ichigo turned to him. Frenzied anger swam in Ichigo's brown eyes, pain danced in the man's pupils and something – another emotion, so ruthless, so violent, stood calmly controlling the emotions within Ichigo. Ichigo looked like he was ready to jump on Grimmjow, open his jaws wide and rip out his throat. He didn't respond well to threats, he never had and he wasn't about to start now.

"Calm down." Grimmjow growled, more towards himself than Ichigo. They needed to be calm to be rational right? Ichigo looked conflicted at his words, at least he could still hear and make sense of words, Grimmjow knew all too well the feel Ichigo was feeling – sort of, maybe. The third emotion he'd seen put him on edge, fight or flight is what it screamed to Grimmjow's instincts.

"Ichigo, Grimmjow, I think it's time you two took a vacation." Old man Yamamoto said grimly.

* * *

So, I did this rather quickly. I made myself hurt by reading what I wrote so I felt obligated to get this to you all quickly. I hope you all enjoy it, I'd like to say that my ideas of death are not what I wrote here. It does give me a piece of mind though, because this is one of the many theories of death. If you all don't agree with what I've written - well then tough. Any who though, for those of you who enjoyed this I hope it too gave you piece and peace of mind. Please review. -P.


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